Guenther Steiner urges McLaren to 'grow up' and build its own F1 engine

Former Haas Formula 1 team boss Guenther Steiner has urged McLaren to 'grow up' and end its customer team status by building its own power unit.

McLaren has gone through a number of power unit or engine suppliers across the years, including current supplier Mercedes, Honda, Peugeot, and Ford-Cosworth.

However, unlike most top teams, especially in the modern era, McLaren has never manufactured its own power unit. On the current grid, this makes McLaren an outlier in the top four, with Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull all running units of their own design.

"They are a car manufacturer; they should make their own engine,” the Steiner told The Red Flags podcast.

“Because they always, when something goes wrong, [say] ‘Oh, the engine, now we don’t get the same engine as Mercedes’.

“They had issues with Renault at the time. They had issues with Honda. It’s always something. At some stage, you need to be a grown-up, and they’ve got enough money.

“Zak is pretty good at selling that team, sponsorship. Get the money, instead of putting it in the bank, make your own engine. I mean, that would send a message. Also, I think, commercially for their road cars, would be a good thing. That’s my opinion about it, they should go for it.

“Red Bull went for it, and they are doing pretty good. Audi went for it. They are a car manufacturer; they don’t want to buy a Ferrari engine. They want to stand on their own two feet, they want to be taken seriously.”

Despite his belief that McLaren should take this path, Steiner did concede that it is not without its challenges. 

“It isn’t easy to make an engine, but I think the first hurdle is the money and then the people – like all the time when you do something, when you do business,” he added.

“But at some stage if you are not happy with what you’ve gone, and they are not, what you need to do – you need to do it yourself.”