Max Verstappen and Mercedes feature on same technical problems boat

Concerns over reliability were never far from the surface heading into the 2026 season. 

The introduction of new power unit regulations brought with it a degree of uncertainty, and those fears appeared well-founded early on, with engine troubles hitting McLaren, Aston Martin, and Audi in the opening rounds. On the whole, however, the situation has proven somewhat less catastrophic than many had anticipated.

That said, reliability failures have unquestionably shaped the championship standings in ways that cannot be ignored. So which driver has paid the heaviest price?

It is worth acknowledging upfront that arriving at a definitive figure is virtually impossible. Max Verstappen's retirement in Monaco is a prime example. 

The Dutchman lined up second on the grid, but with his car stalling at the very start of a race defined by its unpredictability, there is simply no reliable way of knowing where he might have ultimately finished.

To maintain consistency across the board, the approach taken here is straightforward: look at the position each driver occupied at the moment of their retirement. 

For drivers who were unable to start a race due to reliability problems, such as the McLarens in China, their grid position is used as the reference point.

When you examine all retirements and did not starts and look at the positions at which the drivers retired, the following ranking can be compiled:

Verstappen and Mercedes top the standings for the wrong reasons

When all retirements and non-starts are tallied and the positions at which they occurred are converted into lost points, Verstappen emerges at the top of the list, despite not having the greatest number of retirements. 

The bulk of his losses stem from Monaco, where he was poised to start from second before his car stalled on the grid. A further eight points were shed in China, where he retired from sixth.

George Russell accounts for 25 lost points, all coming from Canada, where he was locked in a fight with Kimi Antonelli for the race lead before being forced to retire. Antonelli himself sits on 18 points lost, having stalled from second on the grid in Barcelona. 

Lando Norris has suffered three technical retirements this season, though the positions from which he dropped out were generally lower, limiting the points damage to some extent.

At the other end of the spectrum sits Lewis Hamilton. The seven-time world champion is the only driver on the grid to have completed every single lap of the 2026 season so far, making him the most fortunate of the lot when it comes to mechanical misfortune.

Among the constructors, Mercedes stand out as the team most damaged by reliability failures this season. Ferrari, by contrast, have enjoyed a remarkable run of mechanical good fortune. 

The Scuderia had kept their reliability-related points loss at zero all the way through to the Barcelona Grand Prix, before Leclerc's power steering problems finally brought that record to an end.

Check out the points lost by the top teams due to technical issues below!