McLaren team principal Andrea Stella clarifies his previous statements about ‘withholding information’ from engine manufacturer Mercedes. The Italian previously said that his team has been ‘discussing for weeks’ with the Silver Arrows’ engine department, Mercedes High Performance Powertrains (HPP), about obtaining more information, but now primarily expresses his gratitude to HPP: ‘We are not complaining about Mercedes’ advantage’.
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A striking statement from McLaren team principal Andrea Stella after the Australian GP: the Italian told Sky Sports F1 that his team has been ‘discussing for weeks’ about obtaining more information from Mercedes’ engine department. McLaren has been a customer team of the German squad for years, but seems to have a disadvantage compared to the factory team this year. Lando Norris, on the other hand, defended the Silver Arrows’ way of working: “They don’t have to share everything,” said the reigning world champion. “Some things we have to figure out for ourselves.”
‘Very complex power unit’
A week later in China, Stella explains that he is not complaining about Mercedes’ lead over its customer teams. “First of all, I want to clarify that when I was talking about utilizing the power unit, I was referring to HPP (the Mercedes engine department, ed.) in the sense that we need to work even better with them,” Stella told the media in Shanghai. “It is a very complex power unit. And when you are in that position as a customer team, you have to learn everything. And that is very normal. It is very normal that if the product you receive is relatively easy to understand and utilize, there is no big gap (between teams, ed.).”
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“But in this case, the engine is so complex because of these unique sensitivities,” Stella adds. “I don’t remember ever seeing anything like this in a power unit in previous championships. Then you have to go through a whole process, as it were (to understand the power unit, ed.). And we are grateful to HPP for their enormous support. They have provided all the information we need, but you still have to go out on the track and continue learning that way.”
‘We are not complaining’
According to Stella, as a factory team, Mercedes has the advantage that the team forms a single entity with the engine department. “There is no issue of intellectual property or data protection with them. You just work as one unit,” the team principal explains. “So it is understandable that there is a small advantage from this point of view. We are not complaining about it. Our only focus is to learn as quickly as possible and get the best out of the power unit.” According to the Italian team principal, compared to the race weekend in Melbourne – ‘and thanks to HPP’ – McLaren has already made steps in Shanghai.
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