Mercedes fell from their pedestal in the Miami Grand Prix, needing to fight hard for the race win and missing out on the sprint race victory.

At the start of the season, Mercedes looked poised to dominate the current ruleset, with their power unit fantastic and their engine supplier status helping them get on the front foot for their customers.

However, McLaren, which is also powered by the same engine, made significant development gains in the U.S.’s first stop.

They brought a notable upgrade package, and it seemed to work to a T, with McLaren winning the sprint race and finishing on the two bottom steps of the podium.

In fact, Lando Norris felt like the team’s decision to let Antonelli do the undercut cost him a greater chance at a possible race win.

Seemingly, Mercedes was left so impressed with what McLaren was able to do that they are seeking help.

Mercedes engineers reached out to McLaren

La Gazzetta dello Sport reports that after the race, Mercedes engineers asked McLaren for more information about how to handle the latest software iteration of the power unit.

The report is a turn of the tables, as McLaren had complained about not understanding or getting clarity on certain aspects of the engine.

Now, McLaren has gotten a better handle, good enough to the point where Mercedes is the one asking questions.

The software’s understanding reportedly helped the car just as much as the upgrades.

Mercedes still holds the edge

While McLaren has made a step up, team principal Andrea Stella still sees Mercedes as the team that has the advantages.

“I think Mercedes, they still possess a couple of tenths advantage on anybody else,” Stella said.

“This was most noticeable in the race and the Sprint. In the first Sprint section of the weekend, for some reason, Mercedes didn’t express their full potential, and it looked like the other people made bigger-than-expected upgrades.

“But in reality, it was just Mercedes not optimising their potential.”

If McLaren continues to be aggressive in their upgrade profile, Mercedes will need to respond with their own improvements, and their engineering department has not been tested in that aspect.