McLaren, Williams, Alpine Mercedes wants to reduce the number of its customer teams

While the 2025 season of Formula 1 has just ended, Toto wolff is already thinking about the future of his stable… or rather, that of his clients. From 2026, Aston Martin will end its collaboration with the three-pronged firm to partner with the Japanese engine manufacturer Honda, until then the exclusive supplier of Red Bull. Classic Mercedes for sale will, however, welcome a new partner: AlpineStruggling for several seasons, the French team will abandon the engine Renault designed at Viruses-Châtillon to bet on a unit of power deemed more competitive.

The Mercedes engine has indeed proven its worth. The German brand's hybrid turbo V6 has brought the team eight victories since the start of its era in 2014, while several customer teams have also benefited. The team's cars McLaren have been powered by Mercedes engines since 2021, while Williams Mercedes has been a customer of the German brand since 2014. In 2026, Mercedes will still supply three customers, whose contracts run until 2030, for a total of sixteen engines to be produced.

This season, Mercedes finished second in the Constructors' Championship, but behind its own customer team: McLaren. For the second year in a row, the Papayas (McLaren's nickname) significantly outperformed the Silver Arrows, scoring almost twice as many points. This situation is a source of concern for Toto Wolff, CEO and co-owner of Mercedes. Our current state of mind, also in discussion with Ola (Ola Källenius, Chairman of Mercedes. Editor's note)The point is that we will reduce the number of stables we will supply in the next cycle. " declares the Austrian.

He therefore plans to have only "between two and three "Teams operating with Mercedes power units, casting doubt on the future of existing contracts." It all depends on the new regulations that will be introduced. Wolff explains. Are they relatively simple or not? What can we learn by providing more stables while simultaneously having to lock in certain designs earlier? Considering all of this, in the future, it will no longer be four [teams] "says the director of the German team.

A double-edged decision

Hywel Thomas, Managing Director of Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains, however, qualifies this position. We have shown in the past that supplying more than one team means obtaining more data, more information, and covering more kilometers. the leader explains. It's not just a question of the number of cars. You have four times as many engineers, all there telling you 'No, you can do this better, you can do more of that.' Receiving all this feedback is extremely beneficial. You don't always feel it immediately. Yet it certainly is, for designing a quality product. »

The Briton also points out the constraints of the strategy. The downside is that you have to produce a lot of equipment. You have to make certain decisions earlier. I'm not sure that making these decisions earlier is always a downside. Because sometimes you can push things a little too far. That's the other side of the coin.. he analyzes. I'm not even sure if the optimal number is one, two, three, or four stables. I don't know. There's clearly an ideal point somewhere. I think it's probably closer to four than one. »

Although no official decision has yet been announced by Mercedes management, it seems certain that the team does not appreciate being beaten, even less so by a customer team, after almost a decade of dominance in the sport.

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