McLaren CEO Zak Brown has confirmed the team is not yet running Mercedes\u2019 latest power unit upgrade at Silverstone, despite fellow customer teams already introducing the updated engine.<\/p>\n
Customer teams have the right to access the latest version of a factory power unit as part of the regulations, but with McLaren having mileage to complete on its current engines, McLaren drivers do not yet have the latest version.<\/p>\n
McLaren not utilising latest Mercedes engine upgrade<\/p>\n
Want more PlanetF1.com coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google<\/a> to your favourites list for news you can trust<\/p>\n After Red Bull was set as the power unit benchmark in early FIA testing, Mercedes was granted one ADUO [Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities] update to try and add power to its power unit.<\/p>\n The new-spec engine has now debuted, and while fellow customers, Williams and Alpine are thought to have taken new power units, McLaren<\/a> has not yet done so.<\/p>\n Any performance gain in Formula 1 is always sought after on the grid, but with only limited parts teams are allowed to take throughout the course of the year, maximising each power unit part\u2019s capabilities is important for the teams in order to avoid grid penalties later in the year.<\/p>\n Confirming the team did not request Mercedes\u2019 newest specification at Silverstone, Brown explained McLaren could benefit from the Belgian Grand Prix onwards.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ve got to cycle through your engines, and we\u2019ve got life left on our current engines, so we need to wait till we do an engine change,\u201d Brown told PlanetF1.com and others at Silverstone.<\/p>\n \u201cWilliams got theirs because Carlos [Sainz] had his issue, so he needed an engine change,\u201d he added, before looking towards Alpine\u2019s Steve Nielsen, \u201cI don\u2019t recall exactly [Alpine\u2019s] scenario, but I think you\u2019ve got two of them, so it\u2019s just a timing sequence thing.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019d want it as quickly as you can, but you need to run the cycles through the engines. Obviously, you can move things in and out, but we\u2019ll have it soon, hopefully next race.<\/p>\n \u201cOf course, we\u2019d like to have it. Any time you have performance that you know is coming, but you don\u2019t have it on your car yet, you want to get it as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n \u201cI won\u2019t say it\u2019s a frustration, it\u2019s just what it is, and we just keep our head down and keep pushing hard, and it\u2019ll be in the back in not too long.\u201d<\/p>\n After early retirements and a double DNS in China, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris sit one point apart and fourth and fifth in the Drivers\u2019 standings respectively, with McLaren third in the Constructors\u2019 table.<\/p>\n With most of the season still to go, Brown has been cautious in labelling the teams\u2019 development battle throughout the campaign, knowing there is more to come from the MCL40.<\/p>\n Looking ahead to the British Grand Prix<\/p>\n British GP predictions: False Lewis Hamilton hope, Russell on toast, McLaren resurgence<\/a><\/p>\n British Grand Prix weather: What is the risk of rain this weekend?<\/a><\/p>\n Ferrari has led the way in terms of having brought upgrades early on in the season and, while McLaren has not brought the same quantity just yet, there is still time.<\/p>\n \u201cFerrari and Red Bull have been very, very close,\u201d Brown said. You look at the list, and it doesn\u2019t necessarily always give you a clear story, but I think Ferrari and Red Bull have done a fantastic job with their upgrades.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve done a fantastic job with our upgrades. We\u2019re a little bit behind. I think it\u2019s very early in the season to draw conclusions, because you don\u2019t know when everyone\u2019s going to deploy their upgrades.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, hopefully, we\u2019ll have as many as Ferrari has, and you don\u2019t know when their next one\u2019s coming, so I think the whole story is a bit early in the year, because you deploy them when they\u2019re ready, they got them ready earlier than ours.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have just as many upgrades coming, we just haven\u2019t put them on the on the race car yet, because they\u2019re not quite at the level that we\u2019d like it to be before we reproduce the parts. Clearly, Ferrari and Red Bull have done a fantastic job.\u201d<\/p>\n Additional reporting by Thomas Maher<\/p>\n Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp<\/a> to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.<\/p>\n You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel<\/a> for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!<\/p>\n