In recent years, McLaren have done something most people thought was unrealistic for a customer team – winning Championships. Historically, customers have always been at a disadvantage to their suppliers.
With more intimate knowledge of their power units, manufacturer teams inherently have an edge. By extension, they have complete control over how their engine and chassis compliment each other.
This does not extend to customer teams, who are forced to work around the parts given to them. Still, McLaren’s recent title success helped to challenge this established narrative.
Unfortunately for Andrea Stella’s team, the 2026 regulations are exposing the limitations of being a customer. Speaking post-race in Albert Park, McLaren’s team principal spoke candidly about certain challenges with the Mercedes engine.
Andrea Stella reveals difficulty of exploiting Mercedes power
McLaren’s Andrea Stella deserves immense credit for his leadership as team principal. Since taking charge, the 55-year-old has returned McLaren to the front of the field.
From a structural perspective, the British team have everything they need to achieve success. With that said, there could still be something missing.
McLaren are now the only top team that aren’t a manufacturer. Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull all produce their own engines – with Red Bull having made this transition for these 2026 regulations.
On paper, customer teams receive the same engines and tools as their suppliers. However, there are still some inherent shortcomings that come with relying on an external source for your power units.
In pre-season, for example, McLaren did not have the newest Mercedes engine specification. Whilst they received the latest version in Australia, McLaren could have benefited from an additional two weeks of working with the current iteration of the Mercedes power unit.
Speaking after an underwhelming start to the season for his team, Andrea Stella admitted that McLaren feel disadvantaged:
“The discussion with HPP [Mercedes Powertrains] about having more information has been going on for weeks,” he told GPBlog.
“Because even in testing we were pretty much going on track, running the car, looking at the data and thinking – ‘Oh, that’s what we have. Good, now we react to what we have.’
“That’s not how you work in Formula 1.
“In Formula 1, what happens on track, you simulate. You know what is happening, you know what you’re programming. You know how the car is going to behave.
“OK, so you also have your plans for how you evolve it that you’ve figured out beforehand – because you know what you are expecting from the car.
“I have to say, since we are a customer team, this is the first time that we feel we are on the back foot. Even when it comes to our ability to predict how the car will behave, and anticipate how we can improve it.”
McLaren work to recover
Over time, it seems probable that McLaren will overcome this gap in knowledge. The engineers in Woking will no doubt be working closely with Mercedes to understand how to exploit the power unit.
Still, this story illustrates why the likes of Aston Martin have pushed to become manufacturers.
Whilst the Honda engine is obviously struggling at the moment, part of Honda’s issues stem from the relatively last-minute changes requested by Adrian Newey to accommodate his design for the AMR26. Of course, this late adjustment has contributed to some significant problems.
However, over time, Honda believe they can address their power unit issues. Once they achieve this, it will give Aston Martin’s technical team full control over the direction they take the AMR26.
Over time, this could the British team in a better position to climb the field. Even if Aston fail, their destiny will be firmly in their own hands.
For all three of Mercedes’ customer teams – McLaren, Williams and Alpine – their performance in Australia fell short of expectations. To be clear, this is not the responsibility of Mercedes.
All three teams will have plenty of room to improve their chassis and aerodynamics. Alpine in particular have little room to complain, since they abandoned their own Renault engines in favour of Mercedes.
Regardless, it seems that McLaren are feeling some of the less desirable consequences that come with being a customer in Formula 1.