Andrea Stella believes that McLaren has narrowed the knowledge gap compared to the Mercedes power unit, which existed at the start of the season. The gap that became visible during the Australian Grand Prix, according to Stella, partly arose because Mercedes – through engine supplier High Performance Powertrains – did not share all information directly with customer teams. “I can confirm that we have taken a step forward compared to Australia,” said Stella.
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During the race weekend in Australia, Andrea Stella already indicated that McLaren felt that HPP did not fully share certain information with customer teams. That gap has now been closed. In the first two races, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris also faced problems, preventing them from starting. According to Stella, this was partly related to how the power unit was utilized. “As a customer team, we accepted that in such a development program we do not have everything under control immediately. We used the time between Australia and Miami to work together with HPP to optimally utilize the engine,” Stella told the media.
‘Gap closed’
According to Stella, the British team could better predict how the power unit behaves under the new regulations through simulations in Miami. “Simulating offline or testing these rules in the simulator does not mean you can predict all scenarios. You definitely have to think ahead and consider different situations to optimally use the power unit,” emphasized the Italian.
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The collaboration between McLaren and HPP has improved compared to where they were at the start of the season. Whereas Stella previously spoke of an information gap compared to Mercedes, he now states that both teams have roughly the same knowledge. “At the start of the season, there may have been a gap, which is logical as a customer team, especially when the development of the power unit was under pressure. And that was okay, we were willing to accept that and we have improved this together with HPP. Now I think we have closed this gap and that we have all the necessary resources to get the maximum out of the power unit,” concluded Stella.
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