Lando Norris has responded to rumors that Mercedes might be withholding information from its customer teams. McLaren team principal Andrea Stella previously suggested that the Silver Arrows had not been sharing everything with the British team since the testing days, despite his team having worked with the Mercedes engine department for years. According to Norris, however, Mercedes is not obliged to tell everything: ‘Some things we have to figure out for ourselves’.
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This year, McLaren is one of Mercedes’ three customer teams, along with Williams and Alpine. The gap between the team and the Silver Arrows was therefore striking in Australia – George Russell crossed the finish line almost a minute before Lando Norris. After all, both cars use the same power unit. According to team principal Andrea Stella, however, Mercedes as a factory team has the advantage of already knowing better how to use and recover electrical energy. The team principal suggested to Sky Sports F1 that the Silver Arrows were withholding information: ‘The discussion with HPP (Mercedes High Performance Powertrains, ed.) about getting more information has been ongoing for weeks.’
‘Have to figure it out ourselves’
However, Lando Norris is of the opinion that McLaren itself ‘just has to figure out’ how to optimize the Mercedes power unit. “We always work closely with the Mercedes engine department and they have helped us win the last world titles,” says the reigning world champion in China. “They don’t have to share everything either, because you still try to get advantages in your own way. Some things we have to figure out for ourselves.”
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Although the Briton does not know how much the engine manufacturer is obliged to share with McLaren – “that’s up to Andrea” – according to Norris, his team’s deficit to Mercedes is mainly their own fault. “If we had done a better job earlier and gotten the maximum out of everything, we would have automatically done better already.” Yet Norris also defends his team’s deficit. “The fact that we didn’t have the newer power unit earlier meant we were always going to be behind a team that performs exceptionally well and is just better prepared than we can be. I think we just want to be better prepared, and that’s the main thing we’ve asked for.”
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