Dec.12 (GMM) Mercedes looks set to end its era of supplying almost half the Formula 1 grid with power units.
The works outfit was beaten in 2024 and 2025 by customer team and back to back constructors’ champions McLaren. And with Alpine joining the Mercedes camp in 2026, the German marque will supply four teams next year – Mercedes, McLaren, Williams and Alpine. Aston Martin switches to Honda.
But team boss and co-owner Wolff told Italy’s Autosprint the manufacturer no longer wants such a broad customer program beyond the forthcoming engine regulatory cycle.
“Our current intention, having also discussed it with Ola (Kallenius), is to reduce the number of customer teams that we will supply in the next cycle,” he said. “The ideal number is between two and three, I’d say.
“It depends on how the new regulations go – whether they’re relatively simple or not – and also on what we think we can learn by providing more teams while still having to define some projects in advance.”
Wolff again admitted that had he known McLaren’s level of competitiveness in the past two seasons, Mercedes “would not have supplied” the Woking team.
He also pointed to the industrial burden: “If you’re Honda, you have to produce four or five engines. Supplying more teams also means longer delivery times and longer production cycles.
“So, in the future there will no longer be four Mercedes-powered teams.”
Hywel Thomas, boss of Mercedes’ HPP engine division, offered a balanced view in France’s Auto Hebdo. “We’ve shown in the past that supplying more than one team means you get more data, more information, and you cover more miles,” he said.
“You have four times as many engineers giving feedback. It’s extremely beneficial for designing a quality product.”
But he also highlighted the strain.
“The downside is that you have to produce a lot of equipment,” he explained. “You have to make certain decisions earlier. I’m not even sure if the optimal number is one, two, three, or four teams – there’s clearly an ideal point somewhere.
“I think it’s probably closer to four than just one.”
Audi and Red Bull-Ford join as full works suppliers in 2026, amid growing rumours of a future Toyota program.
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