McLaren lifts lid on power unit struggles: “We remain a bit on the back foot”

Earlier, McLaren CEO Zak Brown hinted that the team is currently unable to run the upgraded Mercedes power unit specification, largely due to the differing mileage accrued compared with rivals such as Williams and Alpine.

That performance gap was evident at the British Grand Prix, where McLaren were noticeably off the pace of Mercedes throughout the weekend. Speaking to the media after a difficult outing, Stella was asked about the impact of the current power unit situation on McLaren’s race performance.

The McLaren team principal, speaking to GPblog among others, stressed that the deficit is not down to a lack of effort from HPP, but rather the complexity of ongoing reliability fixes and development work.

“I think when it comes to the power unit exploitation and the opportunities that we have in this area, it's a fact that we have opportunities, but not necessarily the implication is that HPP are not trying hard enough. I think HPP, like any other team, are in a process of development and in a process of fixing reliability issues. We have been affected by battery problems, some other teams by ICE problems,” Stella explained.

The McLaren team boss continued by noting how the lack of adequate mileage by the team has also delayed its allocation of the latest power unit specification.

However, Stella expressed confidence in the partnership between the McLaren outfit and HPP, noting how their relationship remains excellent despite acknowledging that a thing or two can always be modified to achieve overall better performance.

At the British Grand Prix, Lando Norris could only muster a fourth-place finish, while teammate Oscar Piastri finished outside the points in 11th.