McLaren have confirmed they will finally receive Mercedes’ upgraded power unit for this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, along with a new rear wing for the MCL40.
According to a fresh update from RacingNews365, McLaren’s applied engineering technical director Neil Houldley confirmed the new components as the team arrives at one of the calendar’s most power-sensitive circuits, having been the only Mercedes customer team still running the older-specification engine at Silverstone. The delay had already prompted renewed scrutiny of McLaren’s Mercedes supply arrangement, days after Guenther Steiner’s call for the team to build its own power unit.
Lando Norris And Oscar Piastri’s Reliability Woes Behind The Delay
McLaren chief executive Zak Brown explained at Silverstone that the wait was down to engine mileage cycles rather than any information gap between customer and works team, telling reporters the new unit would be “coming for us shortly” and that the team would have it “soon, hopefully for the next race.”
Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto, plus Williams’ Carlos Sainz, had already switched to the upgraded unit before Silverstone, while Mercedes works drivers George Russell and Kimi Antonelli were first to run it following retirements in Canada and Barcelona respectively.
Norris also suffered a battery issue in Monaco, while he and Piastri both failed to start in China after power unit glitches, leaving McLaren adrift on mileage compared with its Mercedes-powered rivals heading into this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix build-up.
Houldley said Spa’s status as “one of the most energy-starved tracks on the calendar” would make it a stern test of the new components, adding McLaren is “confident that this update will add a bit of performance” from its revised rear-wing assembly, while cautioning against expecting a major step in competitiveness after a difficult Silverstone weekend.
