McLaren playing catch-up on Mercedes power unit understanding, says Norris

McLaren admits it is playing catch-up in understanding how to maximize its Mercedes power unit compared to the factory team, with team principal Andrea Stella stating the squad is "on the back foot" for the first time as a customer. Lando Norris finished over 50 seconds behind the Mercedes cars in Australia, highlighting a significant performance gap in energy deployment and optimization that the team must now urgently address.

Why it matters:

The 2026 power unit regulations represent a major reset, and early mastery is critical. For a championship-contending team like McLaren, falling behind the works team in extracting performance from identical hardware could define their entire season. This situation tests the limits of customer-team relationships in a hyper-competitive environment and underscores the inherent advantage held by manufacturer squads.

The details:

• Team Principal Andrea Stella openly stated this is the first time McLaren has felt disadvantaged as a customer, specifically in predicting car behavior and anticipating improvements.
• The core challenge lies in operational understanding, not hardware. While regulations mandate identical power units and software, the works team has a deeper knowledge of optimal energy deployment strategies, such as lift-and-coast points and battery boost usage.
• Stella confirmed analysis shows more potential is available from the PU and emphasized intensifying collaboration with Mercedes High-Performance Powertrains (HPP) to find "low-hanging fruit."
• Norris clarified that while collaboration with HPP is constant, certain performance optimizations are not explicitly shared, as teams naturally guard their competitive advantages. McLaren must therefore discover some elements independently.
• A logistical disadvantage compounded the issue: McLaren did not receive the latest specification power unit until the Australian Grand Prix weekend, meaning pre-season testing was conducted with an older spec, putting them on the back foot in preparation.

The big picture:

Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff has previously framed customer teams like McLaren as the "enemy in the house," stressing HPP's primary goal is winning with the works team. This creates a natural tension within the supplier-customer dynamic, where information sharing has logical limits. Norris, however, dismissed any notion of Mercedes deliberately holding back, attributing the gap purely to McLaren's own process delays and learning curve.

What's next:

McLaren heads to the Chinese Grand Prix expecting a closer performance. The Shanghai circuit is less demanding on energy recoup than Melbourne, which should simplify power unit management. Norris believes the lessons from Australia will directly translate to better performance, but he also stressed the need for car development beyond just PU optimization to truly challenge at the front.