F1 2026: Toto Wolff responds to McLaren's Mercedes complaint and it's not good news

Mercedes F1

Toto Wolff responds to McLaren's Mercedes complaint and it's not good news

Andrea Stella has complained that McLaren are on the back foot as a customer team

Dan Ripley Global Editor

Professional F1 journalist and analyst

Wednesday 11 March 2026 09:43

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Toto Wolff has hit back at its F1 rivals who rely on Mercedes power by insisting it's impossible to satisfy all teams.

Mercedes were the class of the field at the opening race of the Formula 1 season on Sunday, taking a one-two finish led by race winner George Russell in front of teenage star Kimi Antonelli.

So far the Mercedes has looked well balanced in cornering and straight line speed, but there are concerns from other F1 teams who use Mercedes power units at their relative lack of performance.

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World champions McLaren are one of those teams, and they endured a miserable Melbourne experience, with Lando Norris finishing a distant fifth and having to defend late on from Red Bull's Max Verstappen while Oscar Piastri crashed on his way to the grid, thus not taking the start of the race in Albert Park.

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Stella not happy with Mercedes customer service

Following the race, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella was left exasperated by how disadvantaged the Woking outfit now are as a customer team.

He said: "The discussion with HPP (Mercedes High Performance Powertrains) about having more information has been going on for weeks because, even in testing, we were pretty much going on track, run the car, look at the data, 'oh, that's what we have. Good, now we react to what we have'.

"That's not how you work in Formula 1. In Formula 1, what happens on track, you simulate. You know what is happening, you know what you are programming, you know how the car is going to behave.

Wolff: Are customers are important to us

However, Toto Wolff has hit back at complaints, insisting that Mercedes are doing their best to provide a good service to all the teams they supply, which includes Williams and Alpine who also endured lacklustre season openers in Australia.

Wolff said: "It's clear when you roll out new regulations, there's so much to learn," Wolff said.

"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.

"You can never deploy things to make everybody happy. But I think most important is we're trying to provide a good service."

Mercedes have already come under fire for their power units in 2026, with a huge row involving their exploitation of the engine compression ratio rules (which you can read about here).

However the team will now focus on the Chinese Grand Prix this weekend in Shanghai as they look to keep up their perfect start to the season.

F1 Mercedes McLaren Toto Wolff Williams Alpine