Mercedes Secures Ninth Constructors’ Championship Title

In the heavy Sao Paulo heat, with the championship maths all but settled before the lights went out, Mercedes finally closed the circle.

They did not need a win. They barely needed a podium. P4 for George Russell and P5 for freshly crowned World Champion Kimi Antonelli were more than enough to end the wait and secure the 2026 Constructors’ Championship – their first teams’ title since 2021 and their ninth overall.

It is a number that matters. Nine puts Mercedes level with Williams, behind only Ferrari’s 16 and McLaren’s 10. It also drags the Silver Arrows out of the long shadow of their post-2021 slump and plants them firmly back where they have spent most of the hybrid era: at the top of the sport.

“We've taken a few years to be back on the top spot,” said Team Principal Toto Wolff, his voice carrying equal parts relief and pride after the race. “Not many teams have been able to come back from such a situation.”

He has a point. This title has been forged in the aftermath of bruising seasons, rule resets and public missteps. Mercedes misjudged the 2022 regulations, stumbled through ground-effect turbulence and spent years chasing a moving target in Red Bull. The aura of invincibility went. The questions about Wolff’s project did not.

Now the scoreboard answers for him.

New rules, old ruthlessness

This championship has extra weight because of the way it was won. The 2026 regulations ripped up the technical order again, with sweeping changes to aerodynamics and a new generation of power units. Mercedes chose to lean into the chaos.

“We've never put so much effort into a new set of regulations,” admitted Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin. That line, coming from a group that dominated an entire era of Formula 1, says everything about the scale of their push.

They gambled early. As rivals clung to the old cycle, Mercedes diverted resources and focus to 2026, trying to recreate the decisive strike of 2014. There were moments when it looked inspired, and others when it looked reckless. “We had periods where it looked like we were going to get there, and then you weren't, and you have all these setbacks,” Shovlin said. “When you've finally done it again, it's just immensely satisfying.”

The pressure finally told in their favour. The new car hit the ground running. Wolff’s team opened the season with a clear pace advantage, and while the grid gradually reeled them in, the damage was already done. The consistency of Russell and Antonelli, backed by a bulletproof package, made the constructors’ race feel like a slow, inevitable march.

Respect from the beaten

When a team returns to the top after a fall, the reaction from the paddock tells its own story. Up and down the grid, there was no bitterness, only respect.

McLaren, the outgoing champions, led the applause. “Congratulations to Mercedes and HPP on securing the Constructors’ Championship title after an impressive season,” wrote CEO Zak Brown on X, already eyeing the rematch: “Looking forward to fighting you for it again next year.”

Team Principal Andrea Stella, who has been vocal about the relentless standard of modern Formula 1, underlined the scale of Mercedes’ achievement. “Formula 1 is operating… at very, very high level, very high standards,” he said. “So to be able to win in this kind of competitive context is a reflection of great work that must have happened at Mercedes, so they deserve to be certainly acknowledged.”

From Ferrari came a more personal nod. Lewis Hamilton, who built his legend in silver and delivered six of his seven drivers’ titles with Mercedes as they racked up eight straight constructors’ crowns, watched his old team reclaim the throne. “Congratulations guys, am so happy for you all. So well deserved,” he posted on Instagram. Few know better what it takes to sustain that kind of dominance – and how hard it is to rediscover it.

Even Red Bull, who know the sting of being out-developed, tipped their cap. Team Principal Laurent Mekies highlighted the decisive call Mercedes made last year. “We all recall how dominant they were at the start of the season,” he said. “We knew they had switched earlier than most [last year to focus on 2026], but it's something to switch earlier than most, something else to convert it into lap time, and that's what they have done.”

His assessment was blunt. “They started the season with more than a second advantage on us, so they have obviously done a very good job, so well done to them.”

History, and a familiar name

For Formula 1 itself, this title lands at a symbolic crossroads. Mercedes’ ninth constructors’ crown does not just reshape the record books; it pulls Toto Wolff alongside one of the sport’s most revered figures.

“My huge congratulations to everyone at the Mercedes Formula 1 Team on becoming 2026 Constructors’ World Champions,” said F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali. He framed the success as a collective triumph built on “extraordinary talent, relentless determination and the shared belief of hundreds of people, at the circuit and back at the factory.”

Then came the line that will echo in the history columns. “With his ninth Constructors’ title, my friend Toto Wolff draws level with the great Sir Frank Williams, one of Formula 1’s true legends. To stand alongside Frank in the record books is an extraordinary achievement and a powerful testament to Toto’s leadership, vision and relentless pursuit of excellence over so many years.”

That comparison carries weight. Williams built an empire from modest beginnings; Mercedes, under Wolff, turned a works project into a modern juggernaut and then found the resolve to rebuild it when the walls started to crack.

And yet, this is not just about the man on the pit wall. It is also about the teenager in the cockpit.

A season that changes everything

“To win the Constructors’ Championship in the same season that Kimi Antonelli became the youngest ever Drivers’ World Champion makes 2026 truly unforgettable for Mercedes and for Formula 1,” Domenicali said.

That pairing – a reborn giant and a record-breaking champion – gives this title a different flavour to the Hamilton era. Back then, Mercedes were the established power with a proven superstar. Now they are the comeback force, anchored by a prodigy whose ceiling is still unknown.

“This is what our sport is all about: dreaming big, pushing beyond the limits, and proving what is possible when great people come together with one shared purpose,” Domenicali added. The rhetoric fits the moment. A team that once looked lost in porpoising and concept cul-de-sacs has turned a regulation upheaval into an opportunity to reset its identity.

The rest of the grid will not let this stand unchallenged. McLaren want their crown back. Red Bull will not accept starting a season a second down again. Ferrari, armed with Hamilton and their own long-term rebuild, will expect to be closer.

But in Sao Paulo, none of that mattered. The numbers were simple. The job was done. Mercedes, after years of chasing, have returned to the very top and written another chapter into the sport’s history.

The only question now is whether this is the start of another era – or the hardest title this team will ever win.