You would forgive Mercedes for feeling pretty pleased with themselves, given they have won all three Formula 1 Grands Prix and the sole Sprint race held so far in 2026. But even though their race pace has been unmatched, there is one key area that has been identified as a "high-priority" focus in the coming weeks.

No-one has been able to live with the pace that George Russell and Kimi Antonelli have been able to get out of the Mercedes underneath them. The result is that Antonelli leads the drivers' standings after back-to-back Grand Prix wins, nine points ahead of Russell while the nearest to them is Charles Leclerc in third place, already 23 points off the lead.

The gap is even bigger in the constructors' standings, with Mercedes already on 135 points after three rounds and 45 clear of nearest challengers Ferrari. Though the one key area in which they are lacking, especially compared to their Italian rivals, is at the start of a race.

Mercedes' launches off the line have been weaker than most in the early rounds, while Ferrari especially have been quick to get away with their own new engines. The result is that, despite either Russell or Antonelli qualifying on pole for every race so far, both of them have lost at least one place - and in some cases several places - on the opening lap.

Deputy technical director Simone Resta has said in a new video that the team is addressing the problem with urgency. He said: "We know it's probably one of, if not, the weakest performance characteristics of our car at the moment. We are working with a very high priority on this topic to try to improve it for the next races."

Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix proved that it is not simply the case that Mercedes' engines engage slower than the Ferrari power units, as their customer team McLaren also got away much quicker. Resta added: "We know, for example, looking at the McLaren start in Suzuka, that our power unit can start well. We'll try our best to improve our performance in this area for Miami, and try to make sure that we can defend in the best way any position that we'll be able to gain in qualifying."

Despite his win on Sunday, Antonelli said he was "very annoyed" with his slow start. He began on pole and his reaction time was strong when the lights went out, but he suffered a lot of wheelspin in the second phase which saw him drop to sixth and left him with a lot more work to do than should have been the case to convert his qualifying dominance into victory on race day.

The teenager said: "I really need to find a way to do good starts. The start felt strong, but then in the race I think I just did a mistake and then that obviously put me in a really bad position... I'm going to enjoy the win but at the same time, I'm going to work hard on the areas where we need to improve. I'm going to need to come back stronger and I need to raise my game because it's not going to be easy."