McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has expressed frustration over the lack of engine “information” provided by Mercedes after a major rift between supplier and customer was revealed during F1’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
Reigning constructors’ champion McLaren were far off the pace of Mercedes, who claimed a one-two with George Russell leading Kimi Antonelli to the Silver Arrows in Melbourne.
Reigning world champion Lando Norris finished fifth, 51 seconds behind Russell, while teammate Oscar Piastri failed to start the race after suffering a bizarre crash on his way to the grid.
Mercedes was expected to have an advantage as a works team that manufactures its own engines, but Stella admitted that McLaren was surprised by how much of an advantage its suppliers had in terms of energy deployment for F1’s new car in 2026 following major regulation changes.
“The discussions with HPP (Mercedes High Performance Powertrain) about getting more information have been going on for weeks, because even during testing we pretty much drove the car on track and looked at the data and said, ‘Oh, this is what we have. OK, now we’re going to react to what we have,'” Stella said.
“That’s not how you work in F1. In F1 you simulate what’s happening on the track. You know what’s going on, you know what you’re programming, you know how the car behaves.
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Lando Norris reflects on first race of 2026 after finishing fifth at Australian Grand Prix
“That means we know what we want from the car and we have a plan that we’ve been thinking about for a while on how we’re going to evolve it.
“So this is the first time that we feel like we are at a disadvantage in terms of our ability to predict how the car will behave and how we can improve the car because we are a customer team (of Mercedes).”
After the race, Stella was asked about Mercedes customer Williams team principal James Bolles, who said his team had been “caught off guard” by the supplier’s deployment efficiency.
The Italian, whose team won the title last year, believes there are “low-hanging fruit” available to McLaren but admitted he was unsure if they would be enough to close the gap on Mercedes.
“I don’t know Williams,” Stella said. “I can honestly say that we spent a lot of time thinking about some overlays with the HPP team, especially with Mercedes, but also with other competitors.
“And without a doubt, the results of this analysis seem to point to the fact that we have work to do as a team in collaboration with HPP engineers. We have work to do to exploit the potential of the power unit. Once we see the potential that HPP is unlocking, it looks like there is more to exploit.”
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George Russell was in good spirits as he chatted with Simon and Bernie after winning the Australian Grand Prix
“Now, it’s not clear how we’re going to do that. For us, we’re on a knowledge journey and certainly on a faster journey than the works teams.”
“The works team and HPP will have been working together for a long time. So they’ve been working together and talking about how to use the power unit. That’s fair enough, but we’re definitely going to strengthen our cooperation with HPP because we understand there are some low-hanging fruit that should be a win-win.”
“When it comes to whether this is all that is available and we are underutilized, I don’t know.
“I think further analysis will be needed to understand if this is just a parameter that we can control, or just driver input that we can control, or if there are other factors that are more systemic that the customer team doesn’t necessarily have control over.”
Wolff: You can never develop things to make everyone happy.
Mercedes chief executive Toto Wolff warned that engine suppliers cannot “make everyone happy” when asked about potential concerns from the team’s customers.
The Silver Arrows appeared to have made every effort to hide their performance during pre-season and even on the first day of practice in Australia, but they unleashed incredible pace in Saturday’s final warm-up session to secure a front row spot in qualifying.
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Mercedes’ Russell wins Australian Grand Prix
“Obviously there’s a lot to learn when implementing new regulations,” Wolff said.
“Whether we have customers for gearboxes, suspensions and power units, the development slope is very steep.
“You can never develop things to make everyone happy. But I think the most important thing is that you’re trying to provide good service.”
“Piastri will use the crash to further motivate him.”
McLaren was further disadvantaged by Piastri’s devastating crash before his home race, denying him the chance to start ahead of Norris, who was fifth on the grid.
The Australian was caught up in the surge of power from his power unit, which, combined with his cold tires, sent him onto the curb and sent his McLaren into the barriers.
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Home hero Oscar Piastri crashes on his way to the grid for the Australian Grand Prix in his McLaren
Stella is rooting for Piastri, who is known for his calm demeanor, to make a comeback at next weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix.
“Very disappointing. It was definitely a tough moment for him in front of the Australian crowd,” Stella said.
“But Oscar is a very tough guy mentally. He will use all this to be even more focused and determined, starting in China. So we will make sure that we all face this situation in unison. We are a team in any situation that someone on the team might get involved in.”
“In terms of the situation, I think what we’re observing is basically three factors. When the wheelspin starts, it starts very suddenly because the tires are cold. Compounding this is being on the curb. He was using the curb almost every lap. But when the tires are cold, the curb doesn’t make it easier.”
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Piastri reacts to crash before Australian Grand Prix
“And this is compounded again with the elements that don’t make it easier, which is the fact that these vibrations and post-shift vibrations create extra torque, and looking at the behavior of the power unit, we kind of expect something like that to happen, but we understand that there are some requirements that have to be met in terms of how the torque is deployed, and unless that’s the case, it’s not something to do.”
“While there may have been some similar situations in testing, there was no combination of cold tires and curbs that would further exacerbate the fact that there could be such a discrepancy in torque development at grip-limited stages.”
F1 heads to Shanghai this Friday for the first sprint weekend of the 2026 season, the Chinese Grand Prix, which will be broadcast live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports now – cancel anytime with no contract
