Good news for the three Mercedes customer teams: McLaren, Alpine, and Williams can count on performance improvements for their power units in Melbourne. The Silver Arrows will supply the engines to the three teams in 2026, but for logistical reasons, they did not yet run with the latest specifications in Bahrain. However, that will happen in Melbourne, after the homologation of the power units takes place on March 1.
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Which power unit made the most impression during the test days in Bahrain? Various teams pointed to each other in response to this question. Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff already labeled Red Bull as ‘the benchmark’ for the upcoming season after the first day, and according to George Russell, the energy management of the Austrians looked ‘the best on the grid’. Max Verstappen suspected the Silver Arrows mainly of ‘sandbagging’ at the Bahrain International Circuit. Whether the Dutchman is right remains to be seen until Melbourne. However, the three Mercedes customer teams – McLaren, Alpine, and Williams – can count on improved performance in Australia.
The three customer teams drove in Bahrain with slightly different specifications for their power units than the main team itself. For the Silver Arrows, the test days were mainly about ensuring reliability, and therefore Mercedes chose to use a previously proven specification for the brand-new engines of the three teams. Mercedes itself did drive with the latest specifications. Logistically, it was easier for the German team to bring the latest parts for only one team.
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New specification before March 1
However, Mercedes must bring the latest specifications for the power units for the three teams to Melbourne, allowing the teams to count on performance improvements. The homologation of the engines – the official approval from the FIA – takes place on March 1, prior to the race in Melbourne. It is established in the Formula 1 regulations that customer teams must receive exactly the same engine specifications as the factory teams.
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella was asked by The Race about the current state of affairs at his own team. “I don’t want to say too much about the hardware specifications,” he said. “I think that’s part of the strategy that HPP (Mercedes’ engine department, ed.) has deployed for the delivery of the hardware, the power units, to the customers and the factory team. But the most important thing is that the correct specifications are available for the first race. I must say that the power unit we had during this test performed extremely reliably and gave us the opportunity to carry out all the tests we wanted to do.”
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View the 2026 F1 calendar here
