McLaren has great faith in Mercedes: 'But more is needed'

McLaren briefly looked at Honda but finally decided to extend their partnership with Mercedes in the closing stages of last season. With an engine deal until at least 2030, McLaren has the desired stability in this area. But will Mercedes' power unit soon be decisive in taking that final step towards winning world championships?

The fact the Woking-based team could not (yet) match Red Bull Racing at Grands Prix was largely due to aerodynamic decisions made by the team. In recent months, McLaren have managed to acquire high-quality personnel from several competitors, so a lot of work is being done in this area. There is no further doubt about Mercedes' power unit: it is a powerful, generally reliable engine. With a Mercedes at the back of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri's cars, McLaren had a fine second part of the 2023 season, so is there a good match here?

Stella holds back

"I wouldn't say that it's so easy," team boss Andrea Stella responded to, the media including GPblog when asked whether the Mercedes engine is going to make the difference for McLaren in the title race. "It's one of the elements you have to have, it’s a necessary condition, not sufficient at all."

"in order to contend for a championship, there's quite a lot of work to do that needs to be done on the chassis side. I think we will be competitive for the years to come from a [Mercedes] power unit side. That's for sure. That's why we have made this decision. But there's so much work to do on the chassis and even this year, what we have achieved, yes, is important, remarkable in a certain way. But already we haven't developed the car for a few races and we can see that some other cars have brought some upgrades."

"Immediately our competitiveness is not as good as it was a few races ago. It's an incredibly competitive business. Focus certainly in the collaboration with HPP, but above all on ourselves and making sure that this momentum is carried forward into the next in the next years," Stella said.