McLaren call out Mercedes for 'hiding' engine data as statement issued

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has hit out at Mercedes over a lack of engine information following the Australian Grand Prix.

It was George Russell who saw the chequered flag first in Melbourne on Sunday, after Mercedes overcame an early attack from Charles Leclerc's Ferrari to win the season opener.

Kimi Antonelli secured second after a Ferrari strategy call during the first virtual safety car opened the door for a Mercedes to use their pace in clear air and secure a one-two-finish.

Despite Mercedes' engine giving them an advantage over Ferrari, there was a monumental gap between supplier and customer when it came to the Mercedes power-unit.

Lando Norris in the McLaren was the next Mercedes powered car to finish, was a staggering 51 seconds off Russell, with all other Mercedes customers getting lapped at least once.

After back-to-back constructor titles McLaren's pace is nothing short of disastrous, and Stella has been left unhappy after recent dialogue with Mercedes.

"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'", Stella said via Sky Sports.

Andrea Stella at the Australian Grand Prix (credit: getty)

Stella claimed that the lack of data meant McLaren haven't been able to conduct valuable simulations before hitting the track, putting them a significant step behind the other front runners.

The McLaren team principal added: "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.

"So, you also have your plans as to how you evolve it that you have figured out before because you know what you are expecting from the car.

"I have to say, since we are a customer team [of Mercedes], this is the first time that we feel we are on the back foot even when it comes to the ability to predict how the car will behave and the ability to anticipate how we can improve the car."

Stella suggested the performance of Mercedes in Melbourne show his team have significant work to do in order to extract maximum performance, but admitted he isn't sure where to start.

"We have work to do to exploit the potential of the power unit, which, once I see the potential that HPP is extracting, looks like there's more that is available,' he said.

"Now, it's not obvious how you do that. For us, we are in a journey of knowledge, certainly, a journey that is earlier than the works team."