Mercedes has responded to McLaren’s concerns over its ability to extract the full potential from the German manufacturer’s 2026 Formula 1 power unit, with deputy team principal Bradley Lord explaining that customer teams may need to invest more of their own resources in developing the tools required to maximise performance. McLaren has repeatedly highlighted the advantage enjoyed by the works Mercedes operation when it comes to understanding and exploiting the new-generation power unit.
The reigning world champion team has been questioning why its MCL40 cannot consistently make use of the Mercedes power unit as effectively as the works W17. Mercedes clearly possesses the strongest overall package at present, and the difference has encouraged McLaren to look more closely at how information, simulation tools and power unit integration are handled between supplier and customer.
Andrea Stella wants McLaren to understand the Mercedes power unit gap
Before the summer break, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella expressed his satisfaction with the power unit installed in the MCL40. He has repeatedly praised the performance of Mercedes HPP, while also acknowledging that McLaren has not always been able to exploit the unit as effectively as the works team.
That has led McLaren to seek a clearer understanding of where those differences come from and how the power unit can be optimised around its own chassis. Cooperation has already delivered progress, with McLaren crediting its work with Mercedes HPP for an important performance improvement during the first half of the season.
The issue is not necessarily the power unit hardware itself. Much of the difference comes from the wider integration of the engine with the chassis, together with simulation, software, energy deployment and the tools used to predict how the complete system will behave at each circuit.
Mercedes responds to McLaren’s demands
The discussions between the two organisations have continued, but Mercedes has now outlined its position. Bradley Lord stressed that demanding customers are nothing unusual and that the relationship is governed by both contractual and regulatory limits.
“Our partners are certainly very demanding, but they’re not doing anything strange. There’s a contract that defines all the terms of the relationship. Our department at Brixworth has demonstrated over the years that it carries out this task in an impartial and correct way,” Bradley Lord explained.
Mercedes supplies power units to several teams, meaning it must ensure that its customer operations are treated consistently while also respecting Formula 1’s rules governing the exchange of intellectual property.
That distinction has become particularly important under the 2026 regulations because extracting performance from the power unit involves much more than simply installing identical hardware in different cars.
Simulation tools are at the centre of the Mercedes-McLaren debate
Bradley Lord explained that Mercedes has developed sophisticated tools capable of monitoring and predicting how the power unit behaves both in its own W17 and in customer cars.
“As Mercedes, we have developed tools capable of monitoring the performance of the power unit fitted to our cars and those of the customers, precisely to avoid these kinds of situations,” the Mercedes deputy team principal said.
“We developed these tools ourselves, and the technical regulations are very clear about which intellectual property can be shared between the various teams.”
This is where the works Mercedes operation can naturally possess an advantage. Some tools have been developed through cooperation between the Brackley chassis organisation and Mercedes HPP at Brixworth. Not all of that information can simply be transferred directly to another Formula 1 team.
McLaren has therefore had to build up its own understanding and technical infrastructure around the Mercedes power unit. The process has gradually improved, but it helps explain why having the same engine does not automatically mean having access to exactly the same level of integration and predictive capability.
Mercedes suggests McLaren should invest more of its own budget
Mercedes’ message is that part of the remaining work must also come from its customers. Bradley Lord suggested that teams such as McLaren may need to dedicate their own personnel and cost-cap resources to developing the necessary simulation and analysis capabilities.
“Perhaps the customers themselves need to invest their own resources, including those from the budget cap, in developing these tools. In that way, they can make sure they get the maximum from the power unit.”
The point is significant because Mercedes does not believe its Brixworth operation should necessarily be responsible for solving every aspect of how a customer integrates and exploits the power unit. The manufacturer supplies the hardware and support, but the customer team’s own engineering structure also plays an important role.
That helps explain why the works Mercedes team can still obtain more from the same fundamental power unit architecture. Its chassis and powertrain departments have been developing their simulation methods together, giving the W17 a level of integration that a customer must effectively recreate within its own technical organisation.
McLaren has already begun closing the gap
Despite the increasingly firm tone of the discussion, the relationship between McLaren and Mercedes has already produced tangible improvements. McLaren gained access to additional power unit simulation capabilities during the season, while closer collaboration between its engineers and Mercedes HPP helped resolve some of the energy-management inconsistencies that had affected earlier races.
The results have increasingly appeared on track. McLaren has returned towards the front and demonstrated that the MCL40 can challenge Mercedes when the chassis and power unit operate effectively together. The team’s latest progress can be followed through GP-News.net’s McLaren coverage.
For Mercedes, however, the distinction remains important. McLaren is entitled to expect a competitive product and appropriate support from its supplier, but it cannot automatically receive every tool developed jointly between Mercedes’ works chassis operation and its power unit division.
The debate therefore appears less about whether Mercedes is withholding performance and more about where the supplier’s responsibility ends and the customer’s technical responsibility begins. As the 2026 season progresses, McLaren’s ability to close that integration gap could prove increasingly important if it wants to challenge the works Mercedes team consistently.
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