(Motorsport-Total.com) – Throughout Formula 1 history, the status as a works team has always brought advantages. This advantage naturally belongs to manufacturers who develop both chassis and engine themselves. However, it also extended to teams with preferred or exclusive supply agreements with an engine partner.
Read more Advantage of the work teams: The drive is the same, the know-how is not
However, there were remarkable exceptions where customer teams won world championships – from McLaren in the past two seasons to Brawn’s remarkable triumph in 2009 with Mercedes engines, which until the previous year were exclusively reserved for McLaren, as well as Red Bull’s title partnership with Renault.
During the hybrid era, the FIA introduced a technical regulation requiring manufacturers to supply customer teams with the same engine specification as the works team to ensure equal treatment in hardware and potential performance.
In recent years, this rule caused hardly any controversy. As development matured, power units became almost “transparent” in the overall performance picture, and technical evolution reduced differences between manufacturers to a minimum.
With the new technical era in Formula 1, this picture has changed – not only between different engine suppliers but also in the relationship between manufacturers and their customer teams.
The increased role of the MGU-K has made energy management a decisive performance factor, based on significantly more complex software systems than last season.
The framework for engine supply has not changed. Each customer team still has engineers from the manufacturer in their own garage, but the responsibility for optimizing the power unit lies with the team itself.
The supplier can answer technical questions and provide support but is not allowed to guide the customer team in performance optimization as is naturally done within a works team.
McLaren still behind Mercedes
McLaren has become the clearest example of this new dynamic. Performance is also influenced by the choice of gear ratios – a point Mercedes has always emphasized and McLaren has never hidden.
However, it must be considered that the gear ratios chosen last winter were based on the then performance characteristics of the available engine specification. According to team principal Andrea Stella, there is more behind it.
In Silverstone, he explained that McLaren’s current deficit to Mercedes cannot be attributed solely to the car. “This is a track where energy deployment is particularly important,” said Stella.
“Getting the maximum out of the power unit is crucial. As I have already mentioned, it seems that we still have a small deficit in extracting the maximum potential from the HPP power unit.”
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“We face some challenges, and when you look at the GPS overlays, it becomes quite clear that we need to continue the dialogue with HPP because it looks like we are leaving some performance on the table,” explains the team principal.
A Mercedes qualifying detail from telemetry data also attracted attention: Both George Russell and Kimi Antonelli eased off slightly just before the finish line. “That surprised us a bit,” Stella admits.
Read more Advantage of the work teams: The drive is the same, the know-how is not
“We hadn’t talked about that, and I’m not even sure if something like that is currently available to us, as additional elements are probably needed to operate the power unit in this way.”
“It’s another example that we need to ensure we exploit the full potential of this power unit. It’s an excellent piece of technology with exceptional performance. That even applies to the details of its use,” says Stella.
Silverstone: McLaren without the current specification
He also confirms that McLaren is currently still waiting for the latest Mercedes specification. “We are now waiting to see if we can switch to the latest specification and whether that contributes in any way to performance improvement,” he reports.
“It should actually only be an improvement in reliability, so I’m not sure if that makes the difference. But there are definitely other factors we need to discuss with HPP because when we look at our speed on the straights, even considering the possibility of running with less drag, some question marks remain.”
Another aspect confirmed this picture at the Silverstone weekend. When the FIA published the list of new power units for the event, it showed that Alpine and Carlos Sainz’s Williams had already received the latest Mercedes version, while both McLarens were still running the previous specification.
“We would like to have the current Mercedes engine,” emphasizes Zak Brown. “We are the only team without the latest power unit, and of course, we would have liked to have it available. I wouldn’t call it frustration; it’s just the situation.”
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“When you know additional performance is available but not yet in the car, you want to get it as soon as possible,” he explains. Stella reveals that the topic has already been discussed with Mercedes High Performance Powertrains.
“We have talked to HPP about why we haven’t received the latest specification yet,” he says. “We understand the reasons and trust HPP, with whom we have had an excellent relationship for years.”
“They played a fundamental role in McLaren winning two world championships, and that does not change the basis of our partnership. They are working hard to supply four teams, and circumstances have prevented them from delivering the latest power unit to McLaren.”
“Hopefully, that will happen before the next event,” says Stella. The new generation of power units has thus brought one aspect back into focus that many had already considered irrelevant.
The rules still guarantee that customer teams have access to the same hardware specification as the works team, but they cannot regulate the know-how needed to fully exploit this hardware.
In modern Formula 1, the advantage of a works team is no longer determined solely by access to the engine. Increasingly, it lies in the accumulated expertise from development, calibration, and management of an ever more complex technology.
It is an advantage that cannot be measured on a test bench but can be decisive when it comes to extracting the last tenths from a powertrain.
Read more Advantage of the work teams: The drive is the same, the know-how is not