Mercedes remain commited to McLaren

The 2014 Formula One World Championship might seem a long way into the future right now, but with the change in engine formats, teams are already planning for three years time.

After the inevitable politics and arguments that any proposed change in Formula One always brings, an agreement was finally put in place to introduce fuel efficient 1.6 Litre V6-turbo powered engines to F1 for 2014.

Ferrari's development on the new engines have already begun, while Craig Pollock's PURE engine company are set to make their introduction to the sport, hopefully supplying a number of the teams on the grid.

Red Bull are set to continue their partnership with Renault, which meant that some had started to question what McLaren had planned.

“We have had a long relationship with Mercedes Benz HighPerformanceEngines at Brixworth, We know the guys up there really well and we’re a good team. So we are working with them very closely ahead of 2014. Our job, as is theirs, is to make sure that Mercedes has the best engine on the grid and are the best prepared and most ready. McLaren managing director Jonathan Neale told formula1.com.

When McLaren started their partnership with Mercedes, things were very different. Mercedes focus was purely on McLaren. But now Mercedes supply other teams on the grid including their own factory team Mercedes GP.

Neale played down talk that McLaren were now at a disadvantage working with Mercedes.

“It’s not a concern or an issue for us at all, The one thing that ourselves, Mercedes GP and Mercedes Benz HighPerformanceEngines want is for Mercedes to have the best engine in 2014. The fact that they can draw on technical contributions and know-how from their partners should only make them stronger.

“Our job, as is theirs, is to make sure that Mercedes has the best engine on the grid and are the best prepared and most ready. I don’t feel in any way that we are being disadvantaged or being held at arm’s length.”

The McLaren-Mercedes partnership is one of the most successful partnerships in modern Formula One.

Since 1995 McLaren Mercedes have won 68 races and 4 Formula One drivers titles.