Gunther Steiner Urges Mercedes to Stop Supplying Engines to McLaren
Former Haas team principal, now MotoGP team director, made a bold statement, suggesting Toto Wolff terminate the agreement with his main rival. Steiner believes supplying the best power units to a competitor that dominates thanks to them is unwise.
Major Development
Former Haas team principal Gunther Steiner, now serving as executive director of the Red Bull KTM Tech3 team in MotoGP, made a bold statement that shook the Formula 1 paddock after the Miami Grand Prix. On the Red Flags Podcast, Steiner directly addressed Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff with a radical proposal: stop supplying power units to McLaren, a direct rival to the factory team in the fight for championship titles.
Details and Context
The reason for such a sharp remark was the results of the Miami Grand Prix, where McLaren once again put up a serious fight against Mercedes. Lando Norris won the sprint race, and in the main race, the British driver and his teammate Oscar Piastri finished on the podium, alongside the triumphant Kimi Antonelli. It was the first time this season the young Italian had to truly battle for victory rather than pulling away on technical superiority.
"If I were Toto, I would do just that. It's a convenient way to explain your defeat. I would say, 'I'm not supplying you engines anymore,'" Steiner stated. In his view, continuing to supply a direct competitor with the best power units when that rival dominates on track thanks to those very engines is simply unwise.
Steiner highlighted an important technical nuance: the current Formula 1 regulations require manufacturers to supply engines but do not mandate servicing more than two customer teams. Currently, Mercedes, besides its factory team, supplies engines to three teams—McLaren, Alpine, and Williams. Thus, the theoretical possibility of terminating an agreement with one customer exists, but in practice, the situation is far more complex.
The current contract between McLaren and Mercedes was extended at the end of 2023 and runs until 2030. Steiner acknowledged that an immediate termination would look outright absurd: "Now that they are already supplying these engines, stopping would look shameful. But the deal itself was never a good idea from the start. Although no one expected McLaren to be such a strong team."
Context and Significance
Steiner's statement hit a sore spot in the current season. Earlier this year, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella admitted there was a knowledge gap between the factory Mercedes team and its customers regarding the operation of the new hybrid power units. The 2026 regulations made managing the electric component of the engine critically important: the difference in approach to taking a single corner could cost tenths of a second per lap. According to Williams team principal James Vowles, the deficit for customer teams just in understanding engine operation could be as much as three-tenths of a second per lap.
However, by the Miami Grand Prix, the situation had changed. Stella reported "significant progress" in understanding the engine through joint efforts with Mercedes High Performance Powertrains. "If at the start of the season there was a deficit as a natural consequence of being a customer team, now we have filled that gap," the Italian noted. On-track results confirmed these words: McLaren closed right up to the factory Mercedes team and even beat it in the sprint.
Toto Wolff himself, during pre-season testing in Bahrain, expressed dissatisfaction with pressure from competitors, accusing other teams of trying to change the regulations to suit themselves and of a "conspiracy" against Mercedes. "Philosophically, I disagree with this. But it has been happening for the last 50 years in Formula 1, and this time we are on the receiving end," Wolff said then. Now, political pressure is compounded by sporting pressure: a customer team is genuinely threatening the factory team in the title fight.
Steiner, with his characteristic directness, merely voiced what was surely being considered at Mercedes headquarters in Brackley. "Toto is a true sportsman. He gives his best product to his main competitor. I wouldn't do that!" concluded the Italian-American.
What's Next
The next round—the Canadian Grand Prix at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal—will take place on May 23–25 and will be a new test of the relationship between the factory team and its increasingly strong customer. Contractual obligations bind Mercedes and McLaren until the end of 2030, and a unilateral termination of the agreement risks not only reputational damage but also potential legal consequences amounting to tens of millions of euros. However, as Formula 1 history shows, when a factory team starts losing to its customer, tension in the paddock rises, and Steiner's words are just the first warning shot in this brewing storm.
— Editorial Team
