Mercedes found a legal engine trick worth roughly 0.169 seconds in the final sector at Silverstone. Its customer team McLaren found out about it the same way everyone else did: by watching the GPS data. That tells you everything you need to know about the works team pecking order in 2026.
The Trick Explained
Under the current regulations, when a driver is on full throttle, electrical power must ramp down gradually at 50kW per second to avoid sudden deceleration that could catch following cars off guard. On the short blast from Silverstone’s final chicane to the timing line, that ramp-down was costing Mercedes time.
Their solution was brilliantly counterintuitive: Kimi Antonelli and George Russell simply lift off the throttle completely, just before the timing line. Because the driver is demanding zero power, the ramp-down rule doesn’t apply. The battery gets squeezed to its maximum right up until that moment, then cut stone dead. Entirely legal. Entirely clever.
The telemetry shows what it was worth. Coming out of Vale chicane, Antonelli held an 11km/h speed advantage over Charles Leclerc, carrying 253km/h to Leclerc’s 242km/h. Nearly the entire 0.175-second pole margin was made on that final straight. Without the trick, it’s a very different conversation.
“It’s tricky because with this power unit you need to sometimes drive in a certain way that feels a bit unnatural. In the first place, you’re even like, ‘Why do I need to lift?'” – Kimi Antonelli
McLaren: Left Reading the Memo Last
This is where the story gets genuinely uncomfortable. Oscar Piastri admitted he had no idea Mercedes was even doing it. His response was pointed: “I didn’t even know they did it, which probably says a lot.” It does, Oscar. It really does.
Team principal Andrea Stella confirmed it had caught McLaren by surprise, noting it likely requires hardware or software elements not available to customer teams. McLaren is also still waiting for the latest-spec Mercedes power unit, hoping to receive it at Spa.
Stella was diplomatic about it. Of course he was. You don’t publicly torch your engine supplier when you’re relying on them for the foreseeable future. But reading between the lines of phrases like “there are still some question marks,” the frustration is obvious. As our piece on Silverstone upgrades noted, the performance gaps this weekend were multi-layered.
The Works Team Advantage Is Real
This episode is a neat illustration of why, in any new regulatory era, the works team always holds the cards longest. Mercedes know their power unit better than anyone. They will find the edges first, exploit them first, and share them with customers on their own schedule.
Antonelli is already 43 points clear of Norris in the championship standings. McLaren fans can add “didn’t know about the engine trick” to the list of reasons why.
