McLaren Racing will not renew its contract with Renault Sport F1 beyond the current cycle which ends in 2020 and join hands with Mercedes from 2021 onward.
Following the speculations of McLaren moving back with Mercedes from 2021 F1 season, the Woking-based team has now confirmed that it will not renew its contract with Renault beyond the current cycle.
After ending terms with Honda, McLaren joined hands with Renault for the first time in 2018. It wasn’t the best of starts but steadily they have made progress in 2019 as they battle for fourth position.
However, with the prospects of having a successful power unit on the grid, McLaren has decided to go back with Mercedes from 2021 onward, with whom they ended terms on the onset of the V6 hybrid unit.
The initial deal is set for three years, running until the end of 2024 but can be extended. “Renault has been instrumental to our F1 recovery plan and a fantastic partner to McLaren Racing,” said McLaren’s Zak Brown.
“Despite its understandable focus on its factory team, Renault has always been fair, consistent and transparent in our relationship and we thank the whole team at Viry for the excellent service provided to McLaren in F1 over the past two years.
“Of course, we enter the final year of our relationship in 2020 and are focused on continuing our challenge together of closing the performance gap to the front of the field. The agreement [with Mercedes] is an important step in our long-term plan to return to success in F1.
“Mercedes is the benchmark, both as a team and a power unit, so it is natural we would seek to secure a relationship with the company for the next phase of our journey.
“This announcement reflects the confidence of our shareholders and is an important message to our investors, our team, partners and fans that we are committed to returning McLaren to the front of the field.”
McLaren’s Andreas Seidl added: “2021 will be an important milestone for us as we continue our fight back to the front, so it is vital that we have the key elements in place now to enable us to prepare for the new era of the sport.
“We look forward to renewing our Mercedes relationship from 2021 onwards. At the same time Renault remains both a valued partner as well as a formidable competitor, and we will be focused on continuing our collaboration through the rest of this season and next.”
Speaking on the end of the deal, Cyril Abiteboul said: “Since our partnership began, McLaren has gone from ninth to fourth position in the Constructors’ Championship. We can therefore consider this a very successful relationship.
“However, while looking beyond the terms of the current contract, which concludes at the end of 2020, it was apparent that Renault and McLaren have different ambitions for the future.
“Each of the different elements of this decision have been carefully evaluated over the past few weeks. 2021 will be a crucial season for all teams and it is important for us to have a precise and clear view of the strengths and ambitions of our competitors going forward.
“This decision is in line with Renault’s vision to become a works’ team, with a goal to return to the front. Renault will continue to honour its commitments to McLaren Racing next season, as has always been the case over our long history of engine supply.”
On the Mercedes side, Andy Cowell said: “Since the introduction of the hybrid regulations in 2014, it has been a cornerstone of our strategic approach to lead PU development with our works team and to deliver a benchmark product to our customer teams across the field.
“We are therefore delighted to expand our roster of partner teams and especially with an historic brand like McLaren. There is a shared history between the two organisations; and we look forward to achieving success together again in the future.”
And Toto Wolff added: “We are delighted to welcome McLaren back to the Mercedes-Benz racing family with this new power unit supply agreement. Although the two brands share a prestigious history, this new agreement is all about looking to the future and beginning a new era of power unit supply for the years ahead.
“McLaren have been putting in place the building blocks of their revival over recent seasons, including impressive performances this season with Renault power. We hope that this new long-term agreement marks another milestone for McLaren as they aim to take the fight to the sport’s top teams, including our Mercedes works team.”
The move comes at an interesting point when speculations have come about regarding Renault’s future in F1, even though Cyril Abiteboul has said that they aren’t to pull out when the budget cap is being implemented.
Their position though gets weakened with just the sole factory team running the power unit, as even Honda has two outfits. Mercedes, on the other hand, gets strong with four teams now.
