Formula-1 2017...!!

How easy would it be for McLaren to adapt its car for a Mercedes engine, given the similarities with the Honda engine?
Guus van Lienen, via email

It's a lot easier to change the power unit package today than it was a few years ago. One of the more useful things the FIA has done over the past few years is to define the length of the engine bay and the engine-to-chassis and engine-to-gearbox pick-up-point locations.

This means that the overall geometry of the cars can be fairly similar. It's the detail of the intrusions into the chassis and gearbox for the oil tank, hydraulics, turbo, etc, as well as the cooling system's requirements, that will be the time-consuming design process.

Performance doesn't just come by doing something like fitting a Mercedes engine, it comes from sorting the detail out better than the other teams using the same componentry.

When you have teams like Mercedes itself, Force India and Williams using the same power unit since 2014, they will have gone through all the permutations on the installation and have ended up where they are currently.

To get to this level and also be in a position to maximise the use of a very different power unit at the circuit will not be easy or immediate - even with the experience of running the engine in 2014.

If McLaren makes this shift then it will still take time for it to get up to speed. Mercedes will probably help (but not that much), but remember the two are in competition and the last thing Mercedes needs to do is jeopardise its own championship-winning potential.