Mercedes Formula 1 power unit failures not identical but all battery related

George Russell retired from the Canadian Grand Prix due to such issues with Kimi Antonelli suffering the same fate in Barcelona.

McLaren, on the other hand, who use Mercedes customer engines, have had their fair share of failures due to the same Mercedes issue with DNFs and even DNSs—in China, neither Lando Norris nor Oscar Piastri started.

Mercedes Technical Director James Allison shed some light on his team's reliability issues and revealed plans to sort them out.

Speaking on Mercedes' Nu Silver Arrows Radio Show, he said: "I think anyone who's a keen watcher of the sport will have seen that this has laid a few Mercedes-engine cars low over the season so far. 

"They're not all identical, but they do sort of originate in the same broad part of the battery. And I think that most of the areas of risk have been understood, and, with a bit of luck, when we start to sort of phase in the new modules into the racing season—we call the battery the 'module'—then our fortunes as a fleet should pick up.

"Obviously for us, that's an important thing. These DNFs are very, very painful," the Mercedes engineer admitted.

It is well known that there is always a certain balance between performance and reliability engineers need to maintain, and when asked about the aspect, Allison said: "You accept that there will be failure.

"We try to make sure that failure happens in testing or on rigs and that it happens as little as possible when you're out there trying to earn championship points.

"Now, clearly, it doesn't always work because occasionally the car will DNF, and that is definitely a failure of our process and all of our attempts to deliver performance without the downside of that performance.

"But when a failure like that does happen, then in the first instance, and perhaps before it's fully understood, then the team will tend to take a slight half step backwards to be more cautious with the equipment, to push it slightly less hard, just to give a little bit of resilience to the kit that's obviously suffering.

"But a different part of the team will try to figure out what was the root cause of that failure to design that out, prove that out, and put something back on the table that is sufficiently robust.

"So you do a first intervention that is just to try to sort of give the vulnerable thing an easier life while then working on a proper, proper cure that lets you really cane it," Allison concluded.

Despite their DNFs, Mercedes still lead both F1 Championships in 2026 with Antonelli, but Lewis Hamilton may become a threat after the Briton won in Barcelona, placing himself in contention for the Title.