McLaren and Red Bull have been in the news since Rob Marshall’s move to the latter, but its Team Principal, Andrea Stella, has made it known that there is no link between Marshall’s move and the papaya-colored team’s potential 2026 engine deal with the Milton-Keynes-based team. Rumors have been making the rounds in recent days.
McLaren and Red Bull are two high-profile teams at the pinnacle of motor racing; Andrea Stella, while addressing the rumors surrounding the two outfits to racingnews365.com, he said, “I can confirm there is no link. We had conversations with Red Bull a few months ago as part of the due diligence in exploring what’s available in the market in terms of power unit for 2026.“
“But at the moment, we are quite advanced in our negotiations with HPP, so there’s no conversation ongoing with Red Bull.” The McLaren Team Principal, with his recent comments, has stopped all the rumors indicating that substantial talks have taken place between Red Bull and the Woking-based team regarding an engine deal for 2026.
Moreover, he has confirmed that McLaren is in advance negotiations regarding the HPP. The Zak Brown-led team currently gets its engines from Mercedes and has been dwelling for some time on the prospect of switching to Red Bull for the supply of engines. This has somewhat stemmed from the mix-bag of performances that McLaren has had in recent years.
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McLaren has a stiff task ahead of it in the 2023 F1 Campaign
While McLaren has received a bit of a boost with the arrival of Red Bull’s Rob Marshall on the team, there are several problems that Zak Brown and Co. have been dealing with this year. The MCL60 barely manages to stay in the midfield group, and its issues were on display for everyone to see during the recently concluded Spanish GP.
After eight rounds in the ongoing season, the papaya-colored outfit is sixth in the Constructors Championship with only 17 points to its name. The team’s lead driver Lando Norris has amassed 12 points, whereas Oscar Piastri has contributed 5 points to the total tally. They have massively fallen backward during the 2023 F1 season.
Considering everything that has happened around McLaren in recent years, do you believe that an engine deal with Red Bull from 2026 onward would help turn the fortunes of the team around? However, while the team is currently dwelling over 2026 engines, it should also closely monitor its progress.
In case you missed it:
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