Former Formula 1 Team Principal Guenther Steiner has said that McLaren needs to ‘grow up’ and build its own engine after complaints about its current Mercedes power unit.
Reigning Constructor’s Champions Mclaren are yet to secure a victory in the 2026 season. They are one of several customers of Mercedes High-Performance Powertrains, naturally including the works team itself, which leads both championships so far, with seven wins from nine races split 5-2 between its drivers.
Some of Mclaren’s performance deficit is due to the chassis of the MCL40, but Team Principal Andrea Stella, speaking at Silverstone, promulgated that the power unit has also been a factor.
“Power unit exploitation and power unit performance are particularly important,” he said. “And I have to say, and I’ve said that other times, that we still seem to have a little bit of a deficit in extracting the most from the HPP power unit.
“If you look at the GPS overlays, it becomes apparent that somehow we need to keep our conversation open with HPP. Because there’s some performance we seem to be leaving behind.”
McLaren should be making their own engine, says Steiner
This isn’t Stella’s first time highlighting struggles to understand the power unit. However, former Haas Team Principal Gunther Steiner says that this complaint is a go-to excuse for the Woking-based team. McLaren has jumped around engine suppliers during its time in F1, and Steiner thinks it’s time for them to build their own.
“They are a car manufacturer; they should make their own engine,” he said on The Red Flags podcast.
“That would take away, because they always when something goes wrong, ‘Oh, the engine, now we don’t get the same engine as Mercedes’.
“They had issues with Renault at the time. They had issues with Honda. It’s always something. At some stage, you need to be a grown-up, and they’ve got enough money.
“Zak is pretty good at selling that team, sponsorship. Get the money, instead of putting it in the bank, make your own engine. I mean, that would send a message.
“Also, I think, commercially for their old cars, would be a good thing. That’s my opinion about it, they should go for it. Red Bull went for it, and they are doing pretty good. Audi went for it. They are a car manufacturer, they don’t want to buy a Ferrari engine. They want to stand on their own two feet, they want to be taken seriously.”
When asked why he thinks Mclaren are yet to take that route, he replied that is both expensive and difficult.
“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.”
READ MORE – Oscar Piastri pinpoints source of one of McLaren’s 2026 struggles
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