Mercedes have begun Formula 1's latest generation of rules with a dominant title double, but all indications suggest the sport could be in for a thrilling era of competition.

A week after Kimi Antonelli had become F1's youngest ever world champion in Mexico, his Mercedes team sealed the constructors' title in Brazil on Sunday, with three scheduled rounds to spare.

The destination of both trophies has felt inevitable for a while, but the 2026 season has actually provided fascinating competition since the chasing pack began to catch up with Mercedes after the Silver Arrows cruised to wins at the first six rounds.

Since then, Mercedes have claimed six more wins, McLaren's Lando Norris and Red Bull's Max Verstappen have three each, while Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc each earned a victory, and may well have had more.

Mercedes had to settle for sealing the title in slightly underwhelming fashion as Antonelli finished the Sao Paulo Grand Prix in fifth, a place behind his team-mate George Russell, with Norris' win leaving the Silver Arrows with just one victory in the last five races.

Those recent results are in contrast to 2014, when the introduction of hybrid power units led to a historic period of Mercedes dominance as they won eight successive constructors' titles.

Mercedes won the first six races of that season, but were also victorious at the final seven rounds of the year too.

Speaking after Sunday's race, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff, who oversaw their previous era of dominance, said: "It looks like the most maybe competitive era that is about to start because the teams have become so professional in capability and resource that these kind of runaway seasons, I don't see them anymore.

"You can see how quickly it goes from being dominant and, within a few races, you realise that your upgrade doesn't work and you fall back and you're just third on the road.

"It's great for the sport. I wish it was the era of Mercedes and me running away with another few championships. I don't think it's the reality."

No major power unit advantage?

Back in 2014, Mercedes established a huge advantage over the other power unit suppliers, which was the primary factor in their long period of dominance, but there are several differences this time around.

The most obvious is that the FIA's own in-season testing actually deemed Red Bull to have - quite remarkably - produced the strongest performing engine in their debut season as a manufacturer.

The reason that ranking system exists was the introduction of ADUO (Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities), a measure that came with the new generation of rules that was designed to level the playing field should a manufacturer be lagging behind.

The system gives manufacturers deemed to be more than two per cent down on the leading manufacturer upgrade opportunities, with those more than four per cent down given additional aid.

The FIA's judgement that Red Bull had the strongest engine, which came relatively in the season when Mercedes were dominant, was quite controversial, with most other teams shocked that the Silver Arrows would have the chance to improve their power unit further.

Regardless of where anyone stands on the rankings, the fact that Red Bull could be deemed to have the strongest power unit exhibits that they are very much in the same ballpark as Mercedes.

With that newly formed division at Milton Keynes still in its infancy and surely only likely to get stronger with time, a close battle in that department should continue, with the battle perhaps coming down more to chassis and driver performance as the era continues.

There's also the fact that McLaren have their engines supplied by Mercedes, and already proved with back-to-back titles in 2024 and 2025 that a customer team can win championships.

McLaren have made clear that being a customer team was definitely a disadvantage during this first year of the new regulations, but there is an expectation they will make adjustments over the winter that should allow them to get the most of the Mercedes power unit.

For example, McLaren have lost performance as a result of their gear ratios being shorter than intended. While McLaren have praised Mercedes' efforts as their supplier, this issue is the sort that would be far less likely to arise for a works team.

As for Ferrari, they have been down on power all year compared to the other three members of the 'big four', but Hamilton has been clear from early in the season that the team's top priority going into 2027 is to eradicate or at least significantly reduce their deficit.

Low-hanging fruit for chasing trio?

Putting the power unit situation aside, there also appears to be a fair amount of low-hanging fruit for the trio of teams attempting to dethrone Antonelli and Mercedes in 2027.

Sticking with Ferrari, repeated poor execution has seen them leave a significant haul of points on the table.

The Italian team often failed to deliver in Q3 when appearing to be right in the battle for pole, there have been strategic errors, driver penalties, and of course, some overzealous scrapping between Hamilton and Leclerc.

That was most apparent when a likely one-two in Mexico was thrown away by a clash between the pair on the opening lap.

There is undoubtedly significant room for improvement in terms of efficiency, and it's concerns over this area that would make most hesitate to believe an end to the team's title drought is imminent.

Along with the challenges of being a customer team, McLaren were also held back this season by the resource they threw at ensuring either Norris or Piastri were able to close out the 2025 Drivers' Championship, with the Brit eventually triumphing.

After a sluggish start to 2026, team principal Andrea Stella will no doubt have had the considerable talent at his disposable focused on ensuring the Woking squad return to title contention next year.

As for Red Bull, they have established themselves as the development kings over the last couple of years, coming from well off the pace to end the year with arguably the strongest car.

Verstappen dominated the end of last season to almost deny Norris the title, and is on a run of eight successive podiums stretching back to the Italian Grand Prix in early September.

The challenge for Red Bull is to ensure they start with a more competitive package next time around, which would make Verstappen extremely tough to beat.

Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies said on Sunday: "Let's see how it will pan out in the second year, but it's fair to say that to be already in the second part of 2026 in a situation where you turn up at the race weekend and you don't know which one of the four top teams is going to win the race, I think it's great for the sport."

Have Mercedes held back?

Mercedes' relative struggles during the second half of the season have largely been attributed to the significant upgrade package they brought to Malaysia at the start of October failing to deliver as expected.

While their rivals pushed to make gains with regular upgrades, Mercedes, perhaps influenced by their dominant position in both championships - opted for a more patient approach that would see a major package arrive as Sepang hosted the rescheduled Bahrain Grand Prix.

The Silver Arrows talked up the package ahead of its arrival and appeared to expect to reestablish themselves as the clear front-runner, but it has failed to deliver as expected, with Antonelli's win in Austin the only success of the five races the new parts have been used at.

In the event that Mercedes have genuinely been as shocked as they appear by the package's lack of performance, it raises major questions about the development paths they would have been going down with their 2027 car.

It's also possible that there could have been some gamesmanship from Mercedes, and that more resource than they've let on has been directed at next year's car.

The 2019 season saw Mercedes start in dominant fashion before Red Bull and Ferrari hit back to boost hopes of a tight 2020, only for the Silver Arrows to produce a more dominant campaign.

"There are three or four teams that will be competing for a championship next year, and it could go either way," Wolff told Sky Sports F1 on Sunday.

"In my mind, I am this miserable half-empty guy. I already think about the next race, the next championship."

Us too, Toto. Us too.

Formula 1 next hits The Strip for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, live on Sky Sports F1 from November 20-22. Stream Sky Sports with NOW

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