McLaren told to 'grow up' and build its own F1 engine over Mercedes power unit concerns

After difficult spells with Honda and Renault in the 2010s, McLaren reunited with Mercedes-AMG in 2021, with the teams' current power unit agreement understood to run until at least 2030. With Mercedes power, McLaren won their first two Constructors' titles since 1998 in 2024 and 2025, while Lando Norris delivered the Woking team's first Drivers' title since Lewis Hamilton in 2008.

The start to 2026, however, has not exactly been harmonious between engine supplier and customer. While Mercedes have reentered the title conversation in style after a difficult ground-effect era in F1 - taking seven wins from the first nine Grands Prix of the season - McLaren have struggled to get to grips with this year's complex power unit regulations, trailing their suppliers by 154 points without a Grand Prix victory.

While hardly the sole reason behind McLaren's inconsistent start to the season, team principal Andrea Stella kicked the 2026 campaign off by revealing his frustration over a lack of information from Mercedes High Performance Powertrains (HPP). At the most recent Grand Prix at Silverstone, where drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri finished P4 and P11, respectively, Stella admitted McLaren "remain a bit on the back foot" as a customer team despite stressing an "excellent" relationship with their supplier.

Following Red Bull's move to develop their own powertrain alongside Ford, McLaren are now the only team out of F1's traditional top four not to build their own engine. For former Haas boss Steiner, that should change, effectively telling McLaren to grow up instead of hiding behind power unit issues when performances decline.

Speaking on The Red Flags podcast on whether McLaren should make the move, Steiner said: “Absolutely. They are a car manufacturer; they should make their own engine.

Steiner pointed to McLaren's CEO Zak Brown as someone capable enough of finding the funds to develop their own engine, and also highlighted Red Bull and Audi's introduction as Power Unit Manufacturers in 2026 as proof McLaren can do the same.

When asked why he believes McLaren have not yet gone down that route, Steiner said it is both "expensive and difficult" to develop your own F1 engine, but nonetheless argued that at some stage, if performances continue to be inconsistent, it is something McLaren should pursue.

“It isn’t easy to make an engine, but I think the first hurdle is the money and then the people – like all the time when you do something, when you do a business. But at some stage if you are not happy with what you’ve gone, and they are not, what you need to do – you need to do it yourself," Steiner concluded.