Which Mercedes subsidiary supplies Formula One engines to McLaren?

Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains supplies Formula One engines to McLaren. Usually shortened to Mercedes AMG HPP, the company is Mercedes-Benz’s specialist racing-engine subsidiary and is based in Brixworth, Northamptonshire.

The relationship has its roots in Ilmor, the independent engine builder founded in 1983 by Mario Illien and Paul Morgan. Mercedes began increasing its ownership of Ilmor in the 1990s, and Ilmor became McLaren’s engine-building partner in 1995. The partnership produced its first Grand Prix victory at the 1997 Australian Grand Prix, before Mercedes took full control and renamed the company Mercedes-Benz HighPerformanceEngines in 2005. The present Mercedes AMG HPP name dates from 2011.

McLaren’s Mercedes partnership paused after 2014 and resumed in 2021. That history explains why Honda Racing is a tempting distractor: Honda supplied McLaren during the 2015–2017 seasons. Ferrari and Cosworth have also been major F1 engine names, but neither is the Mercedes subsidiary supplying McLaren in the stated period.