New rules, but always customers
The hypotheses about a possible regulatory change concerning engines that, starting from 2030 or 2031, would reintroduce the much-talked-about V8s into Formula 1, have raised the possibility that a historic team on the grid like McLaren – current reigning Drivers’ and Constructors’ world champion – might decide to free itself from Mercedes and become a constructor of its own power unit, exactly as Red Bull has done starting this season.
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However, speaking with journalists present in Monaco for the Principality GP weekend, Zak Brown responded to this possibility by decidedly cooling down the idea of a ‘papaya self-production’ for the next regulatory cycle. The Californian manager, who brought the historic English team back to its golden age after a long dark period, did not categorically rule out the hypothesis of a McLaren engine in the future, but clarified that this is not the team’s priority.
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Brown’s words
“First of all, I am very satisfied with Mercedes HPP – commented Brown, thus also putting a stop to all the tensions that had emerged at the beginning of this season, in which Mercedes had not provided full support to McLaren in terms of understanding the power unit – they have been an exceptional partner. We have won a couple of championships with them, even though everyone said you couldn’t win a championship as a customer team. We have shown that it is possible. I think the number one priority is to stay with Mercedes. I believe they have been a fantastic partner so far. Whenever a new regulation comes out, we will examine it to see if it is something interesting from a technical point of view and if it makes sense from an economic point of view. I think we will follow this process when that happens. Right now, we are extremely satisfied with Mercedes and we plan to continue with them,” he concluded.
