THEY SAY NEVER GO BACK TO YOUR EX…
MCLAREN MAINTAINS ITS CHERISHED INDEPENDENCE BUT WHAT’S THE UPSIDE FOR MERCEDES?
When Mclaren and Renault announced their ‘conscious uncoupling’ last month, it was easy to assume this was a consequence of them finding themselves in direct competition with one another at the head of Formula 1’s ‘Class B’. After all, Renault has form in falling out with its customers over the past few seasons as it fights to realise its ambition of returning to the front of the grid.
But while Renault’s relationship with the two Red Bull teams collapsed in a morass of public finger-jabbing and mutual rent-a-quoting, Mclaren has pulled back from criticising its engine partner. The only blow-ups have been on the track (perhaps, indeed, too many of them).
Since recruiting Andreas Seidl from Porsche to run the race operation, Mclaren chief executive Zak Brown has melted into the background in recent months and left the studious, serious Seidl to be the team’s mouthpiece as well as string-puller. So it was interesting that while Brown travelled to Sochi to be the ‘face’ of the announcement that Mclaren would renew its association with Mercedes post-2020, he was at pains to point out that it was Seidl who had pushed for the change.
Seidl is a no-nonsense operator. On his watch Mclaren has broken away from the tendency towards short-termism that’s characterised its outlook in recent seasons. He’s even having the guts ripped out of the Mclaren Technology Centre so a new windtunnel can be installed. He’s eminently capable of juggling here-and-now priorities with long-term strategic planning.
Mclaren and Mercedes announced in Sochi that they were getting back together...
So there’s more to the Mclaren-mercedes reunion than meets the eye. Sure, Renault’s agenda to become a race-winner again within five years of re-entering the fray has caused friction with partners. Toro Rosso’s management publicly voiced suspicion of unequal treatment while it was neck-and-neck with Renault in the constructors’ standings two years ago, and that perception was one of several factors prompting it to partner Honda instead. But there’s also a widespread paddock belief, fuelled by anecdotal evidence, that Mercedes customers receive different PU mapping from the works team and don’t have access to the highest engine modes.
Brown, sharing a platform with Mercedes boss Toto Wolff at the Sochi announcement, said this wasn’t the case, that he was confident of equal treatment, and that Mclaren could compete with Mercedes on an equal footing. Seidl later poured a diplomatic dribble of cold water on this latter claim, saying it would be unrealistic to expect to challenge Mercedes in the first year of the partnership given Mclaren’s present state.
2021, the first year of the Mclarenmercedes deal, is Renault’s deadline for establishing itself as a race-winner. F1 Racing understands that it sought a tighter technical collaboration with Mclaren post2020, including sharing a transmission, and Mclaren’s unwillingness to go this far was one of the reasons for the split.
Mclaren wants to stay independent – and sees the putative budget cap that’s due to be part of the 2021 regulatory reset as a means of retaining that status. And the cost-capping proposals have furnished its way in with Mercedes; when it last sought a Merc engine supply, two years ago, it was told there was no capacity. Restrictions on dyno usage from 2021 will free up the resources Mercedes needs to supply an additional customer.
So Mclaren retains its cherished independence. What’s the upside for Mercedes? Well, depending on how the fine detail of the budget cap and what items are ultimately excluded, its customers might just end up subsidising a new era of utter dominance for the Silver Arrows.