McLaren remains loyal to Mercedes engine until 2030

McLaren’s current contract ran until the end of 2025, and they had assessed their long-term options. However, before the final race of the F1 season in Abu Dhabi, McLaren announced that a new five-year agreement was in place. McLaren has been partnered with Mercedes since 2021, after experiencing a period of success in the World Championship with the company in the late 1990s. They remain the most recent winning customer in F1, with Daniel Ricciardo’s triumph at the 2021 Italian Grand Prix.

The CEO of McLaren, Zak Brown, stated that the length of the agreement reflected the trust that his team had in Mercedes products. Mercedes-Benz has been a brilliant and reliable partner for the McLaren Formula 1 team. This extension demonstrates the confidence that our shareholders and the entire team have in their power units and the direction we are taking with them in the new era of upcoming regulations.

We have succeeded together, both over the past three seasons and when they propelled the team before, so we are looking forward to future success as we continue our journey to consistently fight at the top of the grid.

The team director, Andrea Stella, also expressed satisfaction with this agreement. With the approach of the 2026 reform, the team will be able to focus on redesigning its car and avoid developing an engine constrained by the new regulations. “It is one of the essential elements,” explained the Woking team director. “It is a necessary condition, but not sufficient at all. I believe we will be competitive on the engine side in the coming years, which is why we made this decision, but there is so much work to be done on the chassis. Even this year, although what we have achieved is significant, we haven’t developed the car for a few races. We see that some cars have been improved, and immediately our competitiveness is no longer as good as it was a few races ago. It is an incredibly competitive sector.”

The team principal of Mercedes F1, Toto Wolff, declared that it was essential to have customer teams as Grand Prix races enter a new era of rules. “Working with strong customer teams has been the cornerstone of our motorsport strategy,” explained Wolff.

This has many advantages. It is a clear competitive benchmark that accelerates our technical learning and enhances the overall return on investment analysis for Mercedes-Benz in Formula 1. McLaren has been a fierce competitor, especially since 2021, particularly in the second half of this season.

Results that give hope to the Mercedes boss to see more equity and competition in Formula 1. « McLaren’s strong performances highlight the importance of transparent and equal supply for all customer teams in the sport, if we want to achieve the goal of 10 teams capable of fighting for podiums. »

Mercedes has already made progress in its efforts on the powertrain for 2026, having started working on it in 2022. As part of the new regulations, Formula 1 will transition to fully sustainable fuel and will move towards greater reliance on electric power.