2025 McLaren F1 Team

[FittingMechanics]

Do you have a link?

This is the link, interesting watch. They talk about the new power units.

Good interview, but different interview, the comments I talk about were on Sky Italia.

Majority (all) quotes from that article that was linked are from this interview, not Sky Italia one.
https://www.f1-fansite.com/f1-news/merc ... post-2026/

These are all from that interview from F1.

"Our current intention, having also discussed it with Ola (Kallenius), is to reduce the number of customer teams that we will supply in the next cycle," he said. "The ideal number is between two and three, I'd say.

"It depends on how the new regulations go - whether they're relatively simple or not - and also on what we think we can learn by providing more teams while still having to define some projects in advance."

Hywel Thomas, boss of Mercedes' HPP engine division, "We've shown in the past that supplying more than one team means you get more data, more information, and you cover more miles," he said.

"You have four times as many engineers giving feedback. It's extremely beneficial for designing a quality product."

But he also highlighted the strain.

"The downside is that you have to produce a lot of equipment," he explained. "You have to make certain decisions earlier. I'm not even sure if the optimal number is one, two, three, or four teams - there's clearly an ideal point somewhere.

"I think it's probably closer to four than just one."

Looks like this article used quotes from that video and additional made at Sky Italia or elsewhere.

[mwillems]

There are a few articles referring back to the sky Italia interview which talk about Hywel being happy with the Mclaren win, and being interrupted, and they also refer back to Wolff laughing that it wasn't his best decision to give the engines to Mclaren but I think these came out at similar times so it wouldn't surprise me if the interviews are merged when reported on.

[AR3-GP]

With its implementation being a first for the sport, sizeable performance margins are there to be exploited, and already a power unit supplier and one of its customers have locked horns.
GPblog understands one power unit manufacturer has attempted to deny a customer team access to a specific fuel specification, highlighting just how significant the fuel’s performance impact could be.
Customer teams have since demanded access to the correct fuel for their respective engines, pulling back the curtain on a new and fiercely contested front in Formula 1’s relentless war for competitive advantage.

https://www.gpblog.com/en/features/f1-p ... tomer-team

Red Bull - Can't be them. They own both teams.
Ferrari - Allows Haas to buy half the car from them and allows Cadillac to run old Ferrari f1 cars.
Honda - Doesn't have customer teams.

That leaves Mercedes...

[karana]

With its implementation being a first for the sport, sizeable performance margins are there to be exploited, and already a power unit supplier and one of its customers have locked horns.
GPblog understands one power unit manufacturer has attempted to deny a customer team access to a specific fuel specification, highlighting just how significant the fuel’s performance impact could be.
Customer teams have since demanded access to the correct fuel for their respective engines, pulling back the curtain on a new and fiercely contested front in Formula 1’s relentless war for competitive advantage.

https://www.gpblog.com/en/features/f1-p ... tomer-team

Red Bull - Can't be them. They own both teams.
Ferrari - Allows Haas to buy half the car from them and allows Cadillac to run old Ferrari f1 cars.
Honda - Doesn't have customer teams.

That leaves Mercedes...

As that would be a blatant breach of the regulations, I'd say the story is simply wrong.
Appendix C5:

1.4 ... All Power Units supplied by a single PU Manufacturer must also be operated in the same way, they
must therefore be:
a. Identical according to the dossier for each F1 Team.
b. Run with identical software for PU control and capable of being operated in precisely the same
way.
c. Run with identical specifications of engine oil and fuel, and associated software calibrations,
unless an alternative supplier is preferred by a Customer Team.

[AR3-GP]

With its implementation being a first for the sport, sizeable performance margins are there to be exploited, and already a power unit supplier and one of its customers have locked horns.
GPblog understands one power unit manufacturer has attempted to deny a customer team access to a specific fuel specification, highlighting just how significant the fuel’s performance impact could be.
Customer teams have since demanded access to the correct fuel for their respective engines, pulling back the curtain on a new and fiercely contested front in Formula 1’s relentless war for competitive advantage.

https://www.gpblog.com/en/features/f1-p ... tomer-team

Red Bull - Can't be them. They own both teams.
Ferrari - Allows Haas to buy half the car from them and allows Cadillac to run old Ferrari f1 cars.
Honda - Doesn't have customer teams.

That leaves Mercedes...

As that would be a blatant breach of the regulations, I'd say the story is simply wrong.
Appendix C5:

1.4 ... All Power Units supplied by a single PU Manufacturer must also be operated in the same way, they
must therefore be:
a. Identical according to the dossier for each F1 Team.
b. Run with identical software for PU control and capable of being operated in precisely the same
way.
c. Run with identical specifications of engine oil and fuel, and associated software calibrations,
unless an alternative supplier is preferred by a Customer Team.

Mercedes is very experienced in finding loopholes (https://www.f1technical.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=32394). I don't know what it's about, but maybe the customer has investigated an alternative supplier.

[FittingMechanics]

With its implementation being a first for the sport, sizeable performance margins are there to be exploited, and already a power unit supplier and one of its customers have locked horns.
GPblog understands one power unit manufacturer has attempted to deny a customer team access to a specific fuel specification, highlighting just how significant the fuel’s performance impact could be.
Customer teams have since demanded access to the correct fuel for their respective engines, pulling back the curtain on a new and fiercely contested front in Formula 1’s relentless war for competitive advantage.

https://www.gpblog.com/en/features/f1-p ... tomer-team

Red Bull - Can't be them. They own both teams.
Ferrari - Allows Haas to buy half the car from them and allows Cadillac to run old Ferrari f1 cars.
Honda - Doesn't have customer teams.

That leaves Mercedes...

You have to understand all these sites like to report rumors. There is very low chance that someone is breaching regulations in this way.

[Farnborough]

https://www.gpblog.com/en/features/f1-p ... tomer-team

Red Bull - Can't be them. They own both teams.
Ferrari - Allows Haas to buy half the car from them and allows Cadillac to run old Ferrari f1 cars.
Honda - Doesn't have customer teams.

That leaves Mercedes...

As that would be a blatant breach of the regulations, I'd say the story is simply wrong.
Appendix C5:

1.4 ... All Power Units supplied by a single PU Manufacturer must also be operated in the same way, they
must therefore be:
a. Identical according to the dossier for each F1 Team.
b. Run with identical software for PU control and capable of being operated in precisely the same
way.
c. Run with identical specifications of engine oil and fuel, and associated software calibrations,
unless an alternative supplier is preferred by a Customer Team.

Mercedes is very experienced in finding loopholes (https://www.f1technical.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=32394). I don't know what it's about, but maybe the customer has investigated an alternative supplier.

At a pure guess level, if Mercedes are using Petronas .... then wouldn't that require sharing the specific formulation with another petroleum company ? That to provide a benefit in margins of formulation.

Look at the various Petroleum companies associated with each team.

Or, as "traditionally" done, supply barrels of fuel painted to look like the sponsor of the recipient team

[ScottR267]

As that would be a blatant breach of the regulations, I'd say the story is simply wrong.
Appendix C5:

Mercedes is very experienced in finding loopholes (https://www.f1technical.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=32394). I don't know what it's about, but maybe the customer has investigated an alternative supplier.

At a pure guess level, if Mercedes are using Petronas .... then wouldn't that require sharing the specific formulation with another petroleum company ? That to provide a benefit in margins of formulation.

Look at the various Petroleum companies associated with each team.

Or, as "traditionally" done, supply barrels of fuel painted to look like the sponsor of the recipient team

Pretty sure McLaren use Petronas fuel with their Mercedes engine supply.

Unsure of the lubricants situation however will be Motul moving forwards as they signed a sponsorship there for 26 onwards

[mwillems]

As mentioned before, there are rules about providing fuel and oils, and i'd also think that most TPs and legal depts would ensure it is in the engine contract that fuels and oil are made available.

As Farnborough mentioned, fuel sponsorship often doesnt mean that company actually supplies the fuel.

[_cerber1]

Pretty sure McLaren use Petronas fuel with their Mercedes engine supply.

[the EDGE]

Possibly the last interesting (F1) fact of 2025...

McLaren stopped upgrading the Mcl 39 a whopping 4 months, and 12 upgrades, before Redbull stopped on the RB 21 (excluding circuit specific only upgrades)

It's no wonder the RB was the best car, by the end of the season

[Matt-A]

red bull was the best car quite early on in the season.