McLaren explains wait for Mercedes reliability upgrade

McLaren still waiting on updated Mercedes power unit

Andrea Stella has explained why McLaren has not yet received Mercedes HPP’s latest reliability-focused power unit specification, despite the update being made available over the Austrian GP weekend to customer teams Alpine, McLaren and Williams.

For McLaren, the timing is significant. The team has already been hit by battery problems this year, including a double Did Not Start in China, yet Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri did not receive the improved specification at the British GP. Stella indicated the new components could arrive at the Belgian GP.

Stella: Alpine and Williams were ‘more in need’

Stella said McLaren had discussed the matter with HPP and accepted the reasoning behind the allocation. One factor was that Alpine and Williams had accrued more mileage, leaving them in greater need of fresh components. Carlos Sainz also required a complete new unit after losing one in his Austrian GP retirement.

“We discussed with HPP the reason why we are not receiving this specification yet,” Stella told media, including RacingNews365. “We understand the reasoning, we trust HPP, we’ve had such a great collaboration in previous years, and they’ve been totally instrumental in McLaren becoming world champions twice, so it is not changing the foundation of the relationship, and conversations remain ongoing.”

Stella stressed that Mercedes HPP is moving quickly while supplying four teams, which has created practical limits on how rapidly every fix can be rolled out.

“They are running fast, like we are running fast to develop our car, and they are running fast with four teams to supply, so there are some conditions whereby it was not possible to supply the power unit to McLaren,” he said. “Hopefully, it is going to happen at the next event.”

Customer-team compromise remains unavoidable

Stella framed the delay as part of the normal pressure of Formula 1 development, where reliability fixes and component allocation must be balanced across multiple cars and teams.

“HPP, like any other team are in a process of development and fixing reliability issues,” he added. “We have been affected by battery problems; others by ICE problems. They are all running as fast as they can, which means it is difficult for them to carry forward all the solutions and fixes.”

While McLaren’s relationship with HPP remains strong, Stella admitted the reality is clear: “I think it’s quite natural that, as a customer team, you remain a bit on the back foot.”