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McLaren, in what has become a troubling pattern, failed to have one of their cars finish in Monaco, marking a second major DNF for the team this season.
They have struggled with electrical problems at multiple points this season — McLaren suffered a pre-race double DNF with both drivers failing to race in China.
Additionally, lead driver Lando Norris had to use a new battery in Japan, even though he had switched to a new one at the start of the event.
McLaren driver Lando Norris (1) during the Lenovo Grand Prix Du Canada at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve. Mandatory Credit: David Kirouac-Imagn Images
McLaren is powered by Mercedes High Performance Powertrains, the engine that the factory team runs on their main car.
However, since Mercedes develops it in-house, they have access to additional information and priority over the customer team.
Team principal Andrea Strella has noted that, as a customer, the team is suffering certain disadvantages early in the season amid such a fresh regulatory cycle.
“We understand these reliability issues in isolation,” Stella said. “We can fix them. But obviously, when you have so many issues, it may be symptomatic of the fact that the project is still relatively young.
“Never before we felt that being a customer team has put us on the back foot. And when I say this, and I want to be clear here to avoid any misunderstanding, it’s not because you are a lower priority for HPP.
“It’s because you have less opportunities to integrate, to stay on the same timeline when it comes to addressing reliability problems or exploitation of the power unit from a performance point of view, combining the efforts when you use the facilities and you have some experiments on the chassis side that you can add to a long run of the power unit when you are a works team.]
“There’s many reasons why reliability associated to the power unit – or taking advantage of being a works team from a power unit point of view – these reliability issues have made it into 2026, where we had such a large technical regulation change.”
There is growing rumbling that McLaren could become an engine supplier themselves down the line, but until then, they are at the mercy of Mercedes and their reliability.
Mercedes has acknowledged its lackluster reliability as an engine supplier, and to maintain its status as the go-to customer power unit, it will want to improve the quality of its engines.
Continue reading...
They have struggled with electrical problems at multiple points this season — McLaren suffered a pre-race double DNF with both drivers failing to race in China.
Additionally, lead driver Lando Norris had to use a new battery in Japan, even though he had switched to a new one at the start of the event.
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McLaren driver Lando Norris (1) during the Lenovo Grand Prix Du Canada at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve. Mandatory Credit: David Kirouac-Imagn Images
McLaren is powered by Mercedes High Performance Powertrains, the engine that the factory team runs on their main car.
However, since Mercedes develops it in-house, they have access to additional information and priority over the customer team.
The Mercedes Problem for McLaren
Team principal Andrea Strella has noted that, as a customer, the team is suffering certain disadvantages early in the season amid such a fresh regulatory cycle.
“We understand these reliability issues in isolation,” Stella said. “We can fix them. But obviously, when you have so many issues, it may be symptomatic of the fact that the project is still relatively young.
“Never before we felt that being a customer team has put us on the back foot. And when I say this, and I want to be clear here to avoid any misunderstanding, it’s not because you are a lower priority for HPP.
“It’s because you have less opportunities to integrate, to stay on the same timeline when it comes to addressing reliability problems or exploitation of the power unit from a performance point of view, combining the efforts when you use the facilities and you have some experiments on the chassis side that you can add to a long run of the power unit when you are a works team.]
“There’s many reasons why reliability associated to the power unit – or taking advantage of being a works team from a power unit point of view – these reliability issues have made it into 2026, where we had such a large technical regulation change.”
There is growing rumbling that McLaren could become an engine supplier themselves down the line, but until then, they are at the mercy of Mercedes and their reliability.
Mercedes has acknowledged its lackluster reliability as an engine supplier, and to maintain its status as the go-to customer power unit, it will want to improve the quality of its engines.
Continue reading...
