Toto Wolff defends Mercedes customer approach after McLaren and Williams raise concerns

Toto Wolff said it is impossible for Mercedes to make “everybody happy” in its F1 customer pool, having caught wind of some McLaren and Williams bafflement. 

Mercedes made a dominant start to F1 2026, particularly over one lap, having found something in its power unit which customers McLaren and Williams claim to be still searching for. With McLaren team boss Andrea Stella calling out a lack of information coming from Mercedes High Performance Powertrains, Wolff insisted that Mercedes always aims to provide a good service.

Toto Wolff addresses McLaren and Williams Mercedes power unit confusion

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After the Mercedes works team, reigning World Champion Lando Norris was the next best Mercedes-powered finisher in Melbourne. He crossed the line fifth in his McLaren, over 50 seconds behind winner George Russell.

Following the race, Stella said this is the first time that McLaren has felt on the “back foot” as a customer team. He wants more “information” from Mercedes’ engine division, HPP, claiming that McLaren had just been learning on the fly during testing by going out, coming back into the garage, checking its data and going from there.

“That’s not how you work in Formula 1,” he stressed.

James Vowles, the team principal of Williams, also a Mercedes PU customer, admitted to being “a bit shocked” by what the Mercedes works team produced in Melbourne. He is confident that Mercedes has given Williams the same power unit tools as its works team – as required under the regulations – but Williams does not yet know how to unlock that level of performance.

As for Mercedes’ third customer team, Alpine, this is the first year of that alliance. Alpine went from works team to Mercedes customer when Renault pulled the plug on its engine division.

With Alpine managing director Steve Nielsen admitting to a high-speed deficit for the A526 machine, he was asked by PlanetF1.com’s Mat Coch whether that is just chassis, or if there is some PU in play there also.

“No, I don’t think PU.

“I mean, yes, it’s a big learning curve. Energy management is a massive thing for us and everybody else. We have a Mercedes engine. They’re also learning, giving us as much assistance as they can. But there is a learning curve in it.”

On that note, Nielsen was told that Stella and Vowles had suggested that the flow of information from Mercedes HPP had perhaps not been what they expected.

“Not sure I really know what to expect,” said Nielsen, as for Alpine, “it’s the first time we’ve done it.

“So from a sample of one, yeah, I guess we’d have liked to bit more, but I can tell you many things that I would like more of.

“All I know is that the working relationship with them is very good. They’re also learning. I’m sure they’re passing stuff on as quickly as they can to us, and we’re greatly appreciative of it when we get it.

“They’ll learn. We’ll get better.

“But I can’t lay any blame at the door of the PU. I think four Mercedes cars in the top six in qualifying or something. That’s not our issue.”

Wolff, the Mercedes team principal and co-owner, told PlanetF1.com and others in Melbourne that he had not yet heard what Stella and Vowles had said, but “somebody said they don’t understand what we are doing.”

Wolff launched a defence of Mercedes’ treatment of its customer teams.

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“I think it’s clear, when you roll out new regulations, there’s so much to learn.

“Whether you have a customer that’s on your gearbox or suspension, and in the same way on the power units, the development slope is very steep, and you can never deploy things to make everybody happy.

“But, I think the most important [thing] is we’re trying to provide a good service. And that’s always our aim.”

Formula 1 returns to action this weekend with the Chinese Grand Prix.

Additional reporting by Mat Coch

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