McLaren to finally receive new Mercedes F1 engine at Belgian GP

McLaren has confirmed that it is to finally receive Mercedes' latest F1 engine at this weekend's Belgian GP. 

One of four Mercedes HPP customer teams, McLaren was the only one yet to take the new unit, with Alpine and Williams both doing so before the Silverstone weekend - which in Carlos Sainz's case, was necessitated by one power unit being lost after failing in Austria.

The upgrade provided by HPP does not provide a performance boost, but is rather a upgrade in terms of reliability, with Mercedes drivers George Russell and Kimi Antonelli suffering race-ending failures in Canada and Barcelona, respectively, and whom used the new engine in Austria.

Alpine and Williams first used it at Silverstone, leading to questions to Andrea Stella and Zak Brown as to why McLaren had not done so. 

Stella said that Alpine and Williams were more "in need" of the engine at Silverstone, with Brown adding that due to the engine use cycle, it did not make sense for McLaren to deploy the new components at the British GP. 

Lando Norris also suffered a battery issue in Monaco, whilst he and team-mate Oscar Piastri failed to start in China as both McLarens were struck down with power unit glitches shortly before the race - with Piastri being wheeled off the grid. 

Both Norris and Piastri will use a new example of the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE), and will not take a grid penalty, with this being the third example used, with drivers allowed four penalty-free in the season. 

Elsewhere, McLaren will also deploy a "new rear wing" which will be evaluated during practice.

The team is yet to bring a 'Macarena' style rear-wing to the MCL40 machine, having brought the part to the Austrian GP, but opting not to run it owing to concerns. 

"Our preparation has been thorough, using extensive simulation work to get ahead of what we know will be a very demanding weekend for energy management," said applied engineering technical director, Neil Houldley. 

"We're arriving at Spa with a new rear wing assembly, an upgrade we've had in the pipeline as part of the car’s development pathway. 

"We're confident that this update will add a bit of performance to our car, but we are fully aware that after a difficult British Grand Prix, mainly in terms of pure performance, even this round won’t be that easy, so we won’t be expecting any big change in terms of competitiveness.

"The Belgian Grand Prix is going to be incredibly challenging from an energy management perspective; it's one of the most energy-starved tracks on the calendar. 

"We anticipate seeing a significant amount of super clip, which will test both the car and the drivers. Furthermore, the forecast looks unpredictable. 

"While wet weather presents its own difficulties, we see it as a valuable opportunity to finally potentially run this car in the wet and understand its behaviour in low-grip conditions, which could provide crucial data for the rest of the season."