Sochi (Russia) (AFP)

McLaren will separate at the end of 2020 from Renault, its engine manufacturer since 2018, to find Mercedes, announced the British team and the French and German manufacturers in releases on Saturday, on the sidelines of the F1 GP of Russia.

The contract linking McLaren to Mercedes will run from 2021 and "at least until the season 2024", it is specified.

McLaren and Mercedes were linked between 1995 and 2014, before the team resumed an unsuccessful collaboration with Honda between 2015 and 2017, then with Renault from 2018 for a three-year contract.

During his Mercedes period, the team based in Woking (England) won the constructors title in 1998 and the pilot titles in 1998 and 1999 with Finland's Mika Häkkinen and in 2008 with the British Lewis Hamilton.

She has not been crowned since and has not won a race since the Brazilian GP in 2012.

The team is suddenly restructuring to find success in F1. Hence this partnership with Mercedes, the "reference" of the category since the transition to the hybrid powertrain in 2014 (the Silver Arrows are five times world champions in title drivers and builders), explains the boss of McLaren, Zak Brown .

In addition to its own cars, the German manufacturer today powers Racing Point and Williams. The contract with the latter was extended until the end of 2025, it was announced mid-September.

For Renault, whose engine will propel more than its own cars from 2021, "we can not classify this in the good news but not in the bad either," says the "main team" Cyril Abiteboul.

This separation is "economically neutral," he says. "What we lose in revenue and what we save in costs, it is neutralized."

"It's also not likely to change our strategy, says the French." It was said that our commitment to F1 was long-term - we are on cycles of about ten years - and the departure of McLaren does not change anything . "

This rupture, he explains, is also linked to the fact that Renault wanted to establish a "technical and strategic partnership" with the team that it is powering, whereas the Woking team wanted a simple client team relationship.

© 2019 AFP