Mercedes Presents Its New Car

The German team presents its new single-seater for the new season.

Mercedes unveiled the new single-seater model for 2026.

The historic Formula 1 team unveiled its new design for the 2026 season car. This year’s car is the Mercedes W17 and will be driven by George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

There are high expectations surrounding the car and the Mercedes engine. It’s the clear favorite heading into this season, although it hasn’t even started yet and will have to prove itself in 24 Grand Prix and 6 Sprint races.

It now becomes the seventeenth single-seater that Mercedes has launched since its return to Formula One, after nearly 50 years of inactivity in the category.

Expectations for 2026

Mercedes hasn’t won a constructors’ championship since 2021, and their last drivers’ title was with Lewis Hamilton in 2020. This season, with high expectations, George Russell and Kimi Antonelli will aim for the ultimate prize and try to secure both the constructors’ and drivers’ championships.

Last year’s constructors’ championship was won by McLaren with a wide margin (833 points), nearly doubling the points of the German team based in England, Mercedes (469 points).

Returning to the presentation of the single-seater, it was a virtual rendering, although it already features some real modifications, such as the air intake and the floor cutouts.

The largest enigma around Mercedes

What worries competitors the most and excites fans is the potential gray area in the regulation of the new engines. There are rumors that Mercedes may have found a significant advantage over the other Formula 1 engine suppliers.

The truth is that we’ll be able to decipher whether all of this is true as the days go by, with pre-season testing and the start of the season in Australia.

Will the W17 and its drivers be able to live up to the expectations that are being generated?