McLaren-Honda has extended its contract with Yamazaki Mazak (www.mazakeu.co.uk), ensuring that the latter continues in its role as the sole Official Supplier of CNC machine tools to the McLaren-Honda Formula One team.

Mazak has supplied the team for 18 years;it currently has a total of 33 machines installed at the McLaren Technology Centre in Surrey, including multi-tasking and multi-axis machines from the Integrex and Variaxis ranges.

This latest contract extension will see eight new machines installed: three Vertical Center Primos high-speed VMCs, four UK-manufactured Vertical Center Nexus 530C VMCs and a Quick Turn Compact 300 ML turning centre.

Since starting the partnership with Mazak in 1999, the F1 team has won two world championships and 62 grand prix races, with the Mazak machines providing a vital in-house engineering support infrastructure.

McLaren Group COO Jonathan Neale said: “Given the volume of precision metal cutting of materials such as titanium, aluminium and stainless steel required to deliver an F1 car to the starting grid, our machine shop sits at the heart of the McLaren-Honda engineering programme. For the 2017 season, we have changed every single Mazak-made component to accommodate the changes to F1 rules.

“Having a 33-strong line-up of highly precise machine tools in-house gives us the confidence to make such changes between seasons. To put the issue into context, in the first week of February alone we undertook 560 machining jobs, each comprising an order of up to six parts.

“This totalled nearly 3,000 parts in one week. Sub-contracting that out would just not be feasible, given the tight timescales we are working to between seasons.”

Marcus Burton, European group managing director for Yamazaki Mazak, said: “F1 is one of the most challenging sporting environments in the world, and the demands placed on both the driver and car in a race require a sizeable engineering network to enable them to turn up on the starting grid week in, week out.

“Both McLaren Honda and Yamazaki Mazak place an enormous emphasis on quality and precision in the manufacture of their respective technologies, and I feel these shared values are integral to the longevity of our successful working relationship.”