F1 | McLaren CEO Brown is optimistic about the reliability of Mercedes engines heading into 2022
Brown believes that Mercedes will continue to supply McLaren with reliable engines: "They are feeling good about the engines development" he said.
Despite Mercedes’ been engaged in a close battle for the title with Red Bull throughout the just elapsed 2021 season, the German team has shown more uncertainty in the reliability of the engines.
Toto Wolff’s team had to suffer a series of penalties on the grid in the final stages of the season, because the FIA rules limit the teams to change 3 power units without incurring any sanctions.
Both Mercedes drivers had to serve some grid penalties for this reason, Valtteri Bottas used a total of six engines during 2021, more than any other driver, while Lewis Hamilton used five of them.
Customer teams McLaren, Aston Martin and Williams also had to use a fourth in the second half of the season.
But, within weeks of the Barcelona pre-season testing, McLaren offered some encouragement regarding the situation.
“They [Mercedes] are feeling good about the engines development. We fortunately had good reliability last year. As you know, there's more than just the power unit that goes into the reliability," the CEO of the Woking team, Zak Brown, explained.
Brown believes that Mercedes will continue to supply McLaren with reliable engines, exactly as in 2021: while, paradoxically, the ones on the W12 have suffered a lot more damage of the ones in Woking, that haven’t encountered any particular problems.
Despite this, Brown explained that Mercedes reassured him that the powertrains should be much more reliable than in late 2021.
"I think our guys did a good job of working with the power unit in year one, so reliability hasn't been maybe the same level of concern with us that it has with others.
“I spoke with Toto [Wolff, Mercedes team boss] last week about it. And he was pretty bullish," - he said - “I think the power unit race is as close as ever, but I'm not worried about it.”
“We were pushed very hard in 2019, and came with a power unit in 2020 that was right there, but maybe it stretched us too much,” - Toto Wolff said last season - “If you are in the constant pursuit of performance, sometimes reliability falls behind. And I guess this is what happened.”
