‘They need to be running out of money soon' – Wolff questions Ferrari upgrades

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff doubts Ferrari will be able to maintain their current scale of car development through the season against the constraints of Formula 1's budget cap, reckoning they should be "running out of money soon".

The opening months of F1's new regulation era has seen most teams introduce aerodynamic updates to their cars on almost a race-by-race basis, with larger packages regularly proving to have a clear impact on the pecking order.

Ferrari are second to Mercedes in the Constructors' Championship after eight races with Lewis Hamilton's win at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix last month the only time the Silver Arrows have been beaten on a Sunday so far.

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Ferrari's strong performance in Barcelona was aided by their introduction of an eight-item aerodynamic upgrade package to their SF-26 car. They brought three updated parts to the previous event in Monaco and then four more new items to last weekend's Austrian Grand Prix, where they experienced a more difficult race.

Mercedes, by contrast, have introduced four car changes in total since their last big update at the Canadian Grand Prix four races ago, although continue to be the team to beat.

Given all teams must adhere to a yearly budget cap - which was raised to $215m for 2026 owing to the scale of the new chassis regulations - or face sanctions, Wolff is hopeful Mercedes have more development spend in hand over their Italian rivals for later in the season.

"On the chassis, we're always bringing small enhancements here and there, because we're a little bit surprised that Ferrari can throw these huge updates at the car in the way they do," said the Mercedes team principal.

"In my opinion they need to be running out of money soon, cost cap money, because we can't do that. We're simply lacking the buffer in cost cap to be able to bring so many parts in the way they do.

"Hopefully that's going to change towards the end of the season when they won't be able to bring any parts anymore. At least the logic would say that, and we're going to come with more."

In addition to fresh chassis changes, Ferrari also brought their first revised engine of the year to Austria after being one of three manufacturers granted two upgrade opportunities under the ADUO system. The Scuderia played down the significance of that first upgrade, with a bigger step forward expected later in the year.

Mercedes have been awarded one upgrade opportunity to deploy this year although Wolff has said that "at the moment there's no upgrade planned".

On the rate of upgrades being seen in the fight at the front, Wolff added: "The only ones who are not slowing down is Ferrari. Between McLaren, Red Bull and ourselves, you can see we had one big one [upgrade] that we introduced in Montreal.

"We have small parts that come in between. I think the same for Red Bull and McLaren. It's just Ferrari seems to be limitless in that way, and then on top they were expecting ADUO and come with a new engine already, so they must have started development six months ago.

"I hope the same rules for everyone."

Next up in the 2026 Formula 1 season is the big one, a Sprint weekend at Silverstone for the British Grand Prix - live on Sky Sports F1 and Sky One with coverage from Thursday to Sunday's race at 3pm. Stream Sky Sports with NOW - no contract, cancel anytime