McLaren Formula 1 driver Lando Norris has addressed the ongoing debate surrounding Mercedes customer engines, asserting that his team receives all necessary information from its power unit supplier. Norris stated McLaren must "do a better job ourselves" to maximize the engine's performance. His comments come after the Mercedes works team showed a significant performance advantage at the 2026 Australian Grand Prix, the season opener.[gpblog+3]
McLaren Needs to Accelerate Understanding
Norris dismissed speculation that Mercedes might be withholding crucial data from its customer teams. He clarified that McLaren gets "everything that we want" from Mercedes-AMG High Performance Powertrains (HPP). Instead, the British driver pointed to McLaren's own process of understanding and optimizing the new power unit and car package. He emphasized that the team is "delayed on all these processes" and needs to accelerate its learning curve.[gpblog+4]
McLaren's internal efforts are key to unlocking the engine's full potential. "If we just do a better job ourselves, maximise the data, and figure things out earlier, we would perform better anyway," Norris explained.He noted that the team is currently "playing catch-up" in the early stages of the 2026 season.[gpblog+6]
Australian Grand Prix Highlighted Performance Gap
The performance disparity became evident at the Australian Grand Prix. Mercedes secured a dominant one-two finish, with George Russell winning and Kimi Antonelli taking third place.In contrast, Norris finished fifth, more than 51 seconds behind Russell.This gap sparked discussions across the paddock about how Mercedes was extracting significantly more performance from the same power unit supplied to its customer teams.[motorsportweek+16]
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella had previously voiced frustrations about the team's understanding of the power unit. He suggested that McLaren and Mercedes needed to work more closely to optimize the package.Stella noted that McLaren felt "on the back foot" for the first time as a Mercedes engine customer, particularly in predicting car behavior and anticipating improvements.[sportskeeda+7]
Complexities of New Regulations
The 2026 Formula 1 season introduced revolutionary power unit regulations. These new rules make energy management and deployment incredibly complex.Mercedes, as the works team, has had more time and internal expertise to understand and exploit these intricacies. Customer teams like McLaren, Williams, and Alpine, while receiving identical hardware and software, face a challenge in matching the works team's operational knowledge and ability to maximize the power unit's potential.[motorsportweek+12]
Norris highlighted that the issue is not a lack of information, but rather the speed at which McLaren can interpret and apply the extensive data received from Mercedes.The team did not receive the latest power unit specification as early as it would have preferred, leaving less time for comprehensive testing and understanding before the season began.This placed McLaren at a disadvantage compared to Mercedes, which had a longer lead time with its own power unit development.[sportskeeda+8]
Overcoming the "Back Foot" Position
Despite the initial challenges, McLaren has a strong recent history as a Mercedes customer. The team secured back-to-back Constructors' Championships in 2024 and 2025, demonstrating that a customer team can achieve top-tier success.This past performance underscores the team's capability to adapt and excel. However, the new 2026 regulations present a fresh set of hurdles.[lastwordonsports+3]
Norris remains optimistic that McLaren's understanding is improving. He expects the team to be closer to Mercedes at upcoming races, noting that the Australian Grand Prix circuit was particularly tricky for power unit management.The focus now is on intensifying collaboration with Mercedes HPP and, more importantly, on McLaren's internal processes to quickly understand and optimize the power unit and chassis package.The team aims to be better prepared for future races and unlock the inherent performance that Norris believes is still available within the Mercedes engine.[f1i+10]
