A playful flight-home jibe follows the Interlagos win.
Mercedes sealed the 2026 Formula 1 Constructors’ Championship at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, and Toto Wolff marked the occasion with a good-humoured jibe at Lewis Hamilton. The team principal joked that the seven-time world champion, now driving for Ferrari, would be travelling home with the Mercedes group. The remark came as the team celebrated its ninth constructors’ crown, completing a title double after Kimi Antonelli had already secured the Drivers’ Championship.
Wolff’s Light-Hearted Remark on the Flight Home
Asked about celebration plans, Wolff kept his answer relaxed and brief. He said it was another overnight flight, that George Russell would be aboard, and that the group might share a constructors’ drink. He then added that Lewis would travel with them too, before quipping that “maybe he needs one for the bed.”
The context made the joke land. Hamilton regularly flies around the Formula 1 calendar on Wolff’s private jet, so the invitation reflected an established routine rather than a staged gesture. The exchange also showed how the relationship between the two men has stayed warm, even as Hamilton’s Ferrari now competes directly against Mercedes on track.
Moments like this reveal how team principals manage the mood after a title. Wolff used humour to acknowledge a rival who remains a familiar face around the team. In a sport defined by intense competition, that balance matters to fans, sponsors and the wider paddock.
How Mercedes Clinched the Constructors’ Title at Interlagos
Mercedes arrived in Brazil needing to outscore Ferrari by at least three points to settle the championship with three races still to run. George Russell finished fourth and Antonelli fifth in a rain-swept contest, while Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took seventh and Hamilton ninth. That combination delivered more than enough to end Ferrari’s mathematical hopes.
The race itself belonged to McLaren’s Lando Norris, who recovered from a poor start to win from pole position in wet conditions. Max Verstappen produced a remarkable recovery drive from 21st on the grid to finish second, ahead of Red Bull team-mate Isack Hadjar. Mercedes celebrated on a separate podium, finishing the afternoon on 652 points against Ferrari’s 512.
Russell said the main priority was securing the constructors’ championship, describing it as the product of a huge amount of work from everyone in the team. The result also confirmed that Mercedes had managed the pressure of a rain-affected Interlagos weekend, a circuit where conditions can change quickly and punish any strategic error.
Wolff acknowledged that the closing stages of the campaign had been demanding. Speaking to Sky Sports F1, he noted that the drivers and Wolff himself are the most visible faces, yet many more people contribute to the success. He credited the staff at the track and at the factories in Brackley and Brixworth, and pointed to a very strong start to the season as the foundation that carried the team over the line.
A Ninth Crown and a Place in Formula 1 History
The ninth constructors’ title is Mercedes’ first since 2021, the final year of a run of eight consecutive championships that began in 2014. It lifts the team level with Williams in third place on the all-time list, behind Ferrari on 16 and McLaren on 10. The title arrived with three races to spare, a margin that underlines how dominant the early part of the season proved to be.
The 2026 season introduced a significant regulatory reset, and Mercedes were quick to capitalise. The advantage they built in the opening rounds proved decisive, even though the team admitted that performance against its rivals became harder to sustain towards the end of the year. In championship terms, early consistency counted for more than late-season difficulty.
For Wolff, the milestone carries a personal dimension. He now ties the late Sir Frank Williams for the most Constructors’ Championships won by a team principal. Wolff described that as something he never thought possible, calling Williams an unbelievable icon of the sport. It underlines an organisation that has won titles in both the early hybrid era and the 2026 era.
The achievement is all the more notable given the fallow years that preceded it. Mercedes still won races between 2022 and 2025, but not the championship, and Wolff said very few sporting organisations manage to recover so quickly from such a spell. Antonelli’s Drivers’ Championship, which made him the youngest champion in Formula 1 history, completed the picture.
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Hamilton, Ferrari and a Relationship That Endures
Hamilton’s presence on the flight adds a human note to a result that ended Ferrari’s title hopes. The seven-time champion spent more than a decade with the Brackley team and won six of his world titles under Wolff’s leadership. Now in Ferrari red, he faces his former employer as a direct rival, yet the ties formed over those seasons have clearly not been severed. That continuity helps explain why the joke resonated beyond the result itself.
Ferrari’s afternoon was far less comfortable. Leclerc and Hamilton scored modestly in the wet conditions, and the team’s mathematical chances of the constructors’ crown ended in Brazil. Wolff’s joke therefore carried a gentle sting, but it was delivered in the spirit of a long-standing relationship rather than as a provocation.
With both championships secured and three races still to run, Mercedes can approach the remainder of the calendar without the weight of a title fight. Ferrari and Hamilton, meanwhile, will turn their attention to finishing the season as strongly as possible. For supporters, the episode offers a reminder that Formula 1 rivalries, however intense on the track, often coexist with genuine mutual respect away from it.