MCLAREN SWITCHES TO MERCEDES-BENZ TRUCKS FOR 2022

The Woking team is running all-new trucks this year, with its equipment now hauled by Mercedes-Benz Actros prime movers

One of McLaren’s brand-new Mercedes-Benz Actros units
Photo: Stephen Hewett

It’s all Mercedes-Benz power for McLaren F1 Team this year, with both its MCL36 F1 entries and its race transporters now powered by Mercedes-Benz motors.

The team’s brand-new Mercedes-Benz Actros units were parked at the Sparshatt Truck and Van Mercedes-Benz commercial dealership in Kent last month, and they’re now embarking on their first official outing as the F1 teams head for Barcelona this week.

The prime mover spotted by Stephen Hewett at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya yesterday, RT11MCL, is a 2022 Mercedes-Benz Actros 1853 with a 12.8-litre inline-six engine.

Our research suggests McLaren will run at least 12 of these grey Mercedes-Benz Actros units this year, with the RT02MCL to RT12MCL number plates registered as identical 2022 Mercedes-Benz Actros trucks, as well as RT14MCL.

We haven’t seen an official press release from McLaren, Daimler or any other party announcing a partnership, but we’ll provide more detail when it arrives.

McLaren is no stranger to Mercedes-Benz trucks, having run the Daimler brand’s prime movers throughout its Mercedes-Benz engine era.

A McLaren Mercedes-Benz Actros rig arriving at Silverstone in 2013
Image: Lucy-Emma’s Truck Photography

But more recently, the team partnered with Volvo Trucks. That arrangement began in 2016, the year after McLaren switched to Honda F1 engines, and lasted for six years. The team’s final fleet of Volvo FH prime movers used throughout 2020 and 2021 began hitting the used-truck market last year.

The F1 trucks and transporters are heading south this week, as the teams prepare for a crucial first test of their 2022 machinery at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya starting on Wednesday. Stay tuned to our website and social media pages to see all the changes to the F1 rigs this year.