McLaren have been reassured by Mercedes that engine reliability in 2022 should not be a concern, following some late season issues last year that resulted in grid penalties for a number of drivers.
Both Mercedes works drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, exceeded the number of penalty-free components, with Bottas using a total of six combustion engines – three more than the rules permit – whilst Hamilton got through five.
Customer teams McLaren, Aston Martin and Williams also used components outside of their allocation, potentially costing them valuable points.
But Brown has been reassured on the matter and insists he and the team have “no worries”.
“They’re feeling good about their development,” Brown is quoted by Autosport. “We fortunately had good reliability last year. As you know, there’s more than just the power unit that goes into the reliability.
“I think the power unit race is as close as ever, but I’m not worried about it.
“I think our guys did a good job of working with the power unit in year one, so reliability hasn’t been maybe the same level of concern with us that it has with others.
“I spoke with Toto [Wolff] last week about it. And he was pretty bullish.”
McLaren switched from Renault to Mercedes for the 2021 season as part of an ongoing deal. The late switch meant much of their development focus between ’20 and ’21 was on integrating the power unit.
Meanwhile an engine freeze is set to take place at the start of this season, lending some urgency to Mercedes in finding a fix for the issues that beset its power unit.
