McLaren’s search for answers in Formula 1 has once again turned the spotlight onto its Mercedes power unit – but former Haas team boss Guenther Steiner believes the Woking outfit has reached the point where excuses should end and self-reliance should begin.
The reigning Constructors’ Champions have endured a frustrating start to the 2026 campaign, failing to win any of the opening nine races while Mercedes has dominated the new regulations with seven victories claimed by Kimi Antonelli and George Russell.
Although McLaren’s MCL40 chassis has also fallen short of expectations, the team has openly suggested its engine package is contributing to the performance gap.
That explanation, however, has done little to convince Steiner, who argues McLaren should stop pointing to external suppliers and instead commit to producing its own Formula 1 power unit.
Stella highlights concerns over Mercedes package
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella acknowledged during the British Grand Prix weekend at Silverstone that the Mercedes High-Performance Powertrains package has not been delivering everything the team believes is available.
“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.”
It was not the first time Stella questioned whether McLaren is extracting the maximum from its Mercedes engine, although the Italian has never blamed its engine supplier for the team’s underperformance.
Steiner: ‘Grow up and build your own engine!’
For Steiner, those repeated concerns only strengthen the argument that McLaren should follow manufacturers such as Red Bull and Audi – not to mention Ferrari – by investing in its own engine programme.
“They are a car manufacturer; they should make their own engine,” the Italian said on The Red Flags podcast.
“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 road 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.”
McLaren has indeed switched engine partners several times over the past two decades, moving from Mercedes to Honda, then Renault, before returning to Mercedes power. While each partnership has brought periods of success and frustration, Steiner suggested the recurring criticism of suppliers indicates a deeper issue.
He also acknowledged that becoming an engine manufacturer is a formidable undertaking, requiring enormous financial backing and specialist expertise, but insisted those challenges should not deter a company of McLaren’s stature.
“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,” he said. &
“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.”
With Formula 1's power-unit era placing even greater emphasis on manufacturer capabilities, Steiner’s remarks add fresh weight to the debate over whether one of the sport’s most famous names should continue relying on customer engines – or finally take the leap toward complete factory independence.
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