@McLaren return to @Mercedes power from 2021 onwards. #F1

McLaren Racing have announced that they will return to Mercedes-power in F1 from 2021 until the end of 2024 under a long-term deal.

The agreement brings McLaren and Mercedes-Benz together as a customer team and power-unit supplier for the first time since 2014.

The decision was made as McLaren chase their return back to the front of the field after a drop of performances in recent seasons.

“This agreement is an important step in our long-term plan to return to success in Formula 1.” explained McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown via McLaren.com. “Mercedes is the benchmark, both as a team and a power unit, so it is natural we would seek to secure a relationship with the company for the next phase of our journey.”

It revives an alliance that previously ran from the 1995 season up until the 2014 campaign.

“This announcement reflects the confidence of our shareholders and is an important message to our investors, our team, partners and fans that we are committed to returning McLaren to the front of the field.” Brown concluded

McLaren have been with Renault-power since the beginning of last season, after an era to forget with previous partners Honda, which lasted for three years from (2015-2017) after a failed attempt of reviving it’s golden era (1988-1992) with the Japanese manufacturer.

McLaren after dropping Honda, the team realised their cars were nowhere near as competitive as they expected, and wound up sixth in the Constructors Championship and was the slowest car in the field at several races.

But after the Woking-squad underwent a major restructure, McLaren made a major step forward this season and currently sit fourth in the Constructors Championship with six races left, with the outfit behind the usual big three Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport, Scuderia Ferrari and Aston Martin Red Bull Racing.

The Woking-based outfit will see out it’s last year with Renault in 2020, and it’s decision was based on two major factors – the Mercedes power-trains have been much stronger than the French manufacturers since the 1.6L V6 Turbocharged Hybrid era began in 2014 and a customer supply from Mercedes-Benz is cheaper.

Mercedes have been the benchmark for engines in F1 during the hybrid era, and have been overtaken in performance only in the 2019 campaign by rivals Ferrari.

McLaren’s success with Mercedes-power came with three World Driver’s Championships under Mika Hakkinen (1998 and 1999) and Lewis Hamilton (2008) and one Constructors Championship (1998).

McLaren’s switch to Mercedes power in 2021 will see Renault as the only team on the grid running it’s own engines.

Mercedes supplied not only it’s factory team but also SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team and ROKiT Williams Racing and now McLaren in 2021 while Ferrari supplies it’s power-trains also to Alfa Romeo Racing and Haas F1 Team.

Honda supplies engines to both Aston Martin Red Bull Racing and it’s sister-team Scuderia Toro Rosso.

You can read the full statements from Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport Toto Wolff, McLaren Racing Team Principal Andreas Seidl and Managing Director of Mercedes-AMG High Performance Power-Trains Andy Cowell at the following link: https://www.mclaren.com/racing/inside-the-mtc/mclaren-f1-powered-mercedes-benz-2021/