McLaren Admits Work Needed to Exploit Mercedes Power Unit After Australian GP
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella acknowledged that his team still has work to do in exploiting the Mercedes power unit to the level achieved by the works team. Stella highlighted that limited information from Mercedes High Performance Powertrains (HPP) has hindered McLaren’s testing, saying that simply “reacting to data on track” is “not how you work in Formula 1.”
“This is the first time that we feel we are on the back foot as a customer team,” Stella said. “Everything is very sensitive. Changing a detail in one place affects something much bigger elsewhere on the circuit. This is why reliance on the tools has become even more critical.”
Melbourne Performance Snapshot
Mercedes dominated in Melbourne, with George Russell claiming pole ahead of teammate Kimi Antonelli, and Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar the highest non-Mercedes qualifier in third, eight-tenths off the pace. Mercedes converted this into a 1-2 finish on Sunday, while McLaren struggled: reigning champion Lando Norris finished 51 seconds behind Russell, and Oscar Piastri crashed before completing his opening lap.
Williams team principal James Vowles admitted that Mercedes’ power unit caught them off guard.
“We have everything that Mercedes has access to, but they’ve been cleverer than we have,” Vowles said. “It’s down to us to try and work around it. There’s some inherent knowledge they have, which we don’t.”
Collaboration With Mercedes HPP
Stella confirmed ongoing talks with HPP, aiming to improve McLaren’s understanding and exploitation of the engine.
“We need to intensify collaboration with HPP. We are on a journey of knowledge, earlier than the works team, and there is some low-hanging fruit we can explore. We will need more analysis to determine whether this is about parameters we control, driver inputs, or systemic factors.”
Stella emphasized that the team must extract maximum performance from the current car configuration while preparing for upgrades that could close the gap.
“There’s performance that needs to come from two main areas: power unit exploitation and more grip in the corners. The gap currently seems to be between half a second and one second.”
Mercedes HPP boss Hywel Thomas has noted that the works team naturally maintains an advantage due to closer integration and long-standing collaboration with HPP.
Looking Ahead
Round 2 of the 2026 season will take place this weekend in Shanghai, marking the first Sprint weekend of the year. McLaren aims to improve performance as they continue collaboration with HPP and refine their understanding of the new 2026 regulations.
For exclusive F1 updates, PlanetF1.com offers a WhatsApp broadcast channel and a YouTube channel, delivering paddock insights and in-depth coverage directly from accredited journalists.