Mercedes engine – McLaren criticizes its partner's lack of transparency: "This is not how things are done in F1"

Although it has the same propulsion unit as the first force on the platform, McLaren was far from the front in Melbourne, to which it had become accustomed after two Constructors' titles (2024 and 2025) and a Drivers' title (2025). While it is always easier to adapt its chassis to an in-house engine, McLaren did not expect such a gap. Lando Norris finishing 51,7 seconds behind leader George Russell at the checkered flag.

Andrea Stella, head of the Woking-based team, thus points to the lack of transparency from his engine supplier. Discussions with HPP (Mercedes Benz High Performance Powertrains) to obtain more information have been ongoing for weeks because, even during testing, we were almost content to just take to the track, drive the car, look at the data and say to ourselves: 'Oh, that's what we have. Okay, let's react now with what we have,' he revealed to Sky Sports F1. That's not how we work in Formula 1. In F1, what happens on the track, you simulate. You know what's happening, you know what you're programming, you know how the car will behave. Similarly, you've already established your development plans in advance because you know what you expect from the car. »

After five years of partnership, including two where the Papayas finished ahead of the Silver Arrows, Andrea Stella did not hide his frustration with Mercedes. I have to say that, since we became a customer team [of Mercedes], this is the first time we've felt like we're lagging behind, even when it comes to predicting the car's behavior and anticipating how we can improve it. »

The champion team is backing away

The sole papaya representative at the start of the race, Lando Norris, finished fifth, unable to catch the top two contenders. But the picture isn't entirely bleak because " there seems to be more performance available "To be extracted from the Brixworth engine, according to the Italian manager." Now, the way to achieve this is not obvious. For us, it's a learning process, and we are certainly at a less advanced stage than the factory team. »

On the other side of the garage, Oscar piastri had a more difficult weekend, missing his home Grand Prix after a major blunder on the formation lap. I went over the rumble strip a bit, but from what we could see, everything reacted as it should have according to the regulations, but I had overall 100kW (136 hp) more power than the rest of the weekend at the precise moment I shifted gears, the Australian expressed his surprise to F1. This caused my rear wheels to spin, and since I was already on the rumble strip, it destabilized the car."Is this a problem unrelated to the engine, or is it something that should concern the Mercedes-powered teams? The verdict remains open for now."

If McLaren could maximize the power of the engine that gave George Russell the victory, then promising prospects awaited the Papayas. We will undoubtedly intensify our collaboration with HPP as we believe there are easy gains that we should be able to realize. "It now remains to be seen whether these advances can be observed on the track as early as the Chinese Grand Prix, held from March 13 to 15.

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