{"id":841783,"date":"2026-08-03T12:18:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T12:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/841783\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T12:18:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T12:18:10","slug":"f1-2026-title-bernie-collins-explains-why-mercedes-opened-the-door","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/841783\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 2026 title: Bernie Collins explains why Mercedes opened the door"},"content":{"rendered":"

Formula 1\u2019s title race is far from over, with Bernie Collins convinced three teams \u2013 and Max Verstappen<\/a> \u2013 remain genuine contenders in the second half of the season.<\/p>\n

According to the former Aston Martin strategist, Mercedes has given its rivals a look-in as Kimi Antonelli and George Russell have been \u201ca bit distracted\u201d by each other.<\/p>\n

Bernie Collins explains why the Formula 1 title fight remains open<\/p>\n

Want more PlanetF1.com coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google<\/a> to your favourites list for news you can trust.<\/p>\n

Antonelli<\/a>, who made F1 history at the Japanese Grand Prix when he became the youngest driver to lead the F1 standings, entered the summer break with P1 firmly in his grasp.<\/p>\n

The Italian holds a 50-point lead over Ferrari\u2019s Lewis Hamilton, while Russell is a further nine points off the pace. Behind them sit Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris.<\/p>\n

Although Mercedes won the opening six rounds of the championship, the team has won only two of the last five, with wins going to Hamilton, Leclerc and more recently Norris.<\/p>\n

Momentum has shifted with the teams\u2019 development programmes.<\/p>\n

Ferrari brought an extensive package to the Barcelona race that Hamilton won, before heading to Silverstone on the back of its first ADUO engine improvement with Leclerc taking the chequered flag.<\/p>\n

McLaren unveiled a significant MCL40 upgrade in Hungary, targeting added downforce and improved balance, and Norris clinched his first win of the season.<\/p>\n

Collins believes the F1 development war will see momentum continue to swing throughout the second half of the championship.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this year is going to be about upgrades,\u201d Collins said on Sky\u2019s The F1 Show podcast. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be about who can get on top of these cars, who can get the best out of the cars, the best out of the engines.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the moment, as the calendar sets, we\u2019ve done 11 rounds; we\u2019ve got 12 still to go. So there\u2019s still lots and lots of points on the board.\u201d<\/p>\n

As things stand, there are 316 points available with the top five in the standings separated by less than 100 points. <\/p>\n

Verstappen, in sixth place, is 110 points behind Antonelli, but last season he not only closed a 104-point deficit to Oscar Piastri, but he also beat him by 11 points to finish runner-up.<\/p>\n

Collins predicts Formula 1 could see seven drivers fighting for the race wins, the world title, in the second half of the championship after Mercedes left the door open with its early-season tussles.<\/p>\n

F1 2026: The season\u2019s winners and losers<\/p>\n

The results of the F1 2026 championship <\/a><\/p>\n

The F1 2026 Drivers\u2019 and Constructors\u2019 Championship standings<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen McLaren this weekend at least have a little bit of the upper hand,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd maybe Mercedes have been a bit distracted with each other in some of the earlier races as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I think that it\u2019s still all to play for. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think you\u2019ve pretty much got three cars, maybe Verstappen as well in that fight, that I think who knows as we go through later races who will be at the front week in, week out. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s really interesting to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has previously spoken about shutting down the back-and-forth battles between Antonelli and Russell.<\/p>\n

That was notable in Barcelona, with the two opening the door for Hamilton to scamper off into the distance.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you know after the learning that we had in Barcelona, the kind of mission that we set for today is that we are not going to lose time with each other,\u201d Wolff told PlanetF1.com and other accredited media.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want any yo-yoing, and then have a Ferrari or a Red Bull breathing down our neck and losing a victory, as happened in Barcelona \u2013 without the DNF Kimi would have won the race.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, since Barcelona, we would in any case always give preference to the race victory. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if it meant that Kimi or George were ahead, this is what we would do. This is a constructors\u2019 championship as much as a drivers\u2019 championship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp<\/a> to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.<\/p>\n

You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel<\/a> for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!<\/p>\n

Read Next:\u00a0Aston Martin starts work on new AMR27 as Newey identifies \u2018key\u2019 F1 2027 rule change<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Formula 1\u2019s title race is far from over, with Bernie Collins convinced three teams \u2013 and Max Verstappen…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":841784,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,31018,817,813,816,818,945,44,17165,85],"class_list":["post-841783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bernie-collins","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-home-page","tag-mercedes","tag-news","tag-popular","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/841783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=841783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/841783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/841784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=841783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=841783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=841783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}