A victory for the McLaren Mercedes Formula 1 team in the opening race of the season has been celebrated by a Midland manufacturer which made critical components for the car.

Yamazaki Mazak, whose European Head Office is in Worcester, supplied a Hyper Variaxis machine to help create the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Formula MP4-27 car.

The machines are being used to manufacture a variety of components for the MP4-27, including the rear crash structure, which is made of titanium; the rear wing pylon and the rear end maincase insert, a titanium component with a billet weight of 60kg and a final weight of less than 4kg.

Ian Greenfield, senior production engineer at McLaren Racing, said: “We already had a number of small five-axis machines, but we had no large, super-fast, dynamic machines capable of machining the maincase insert or rear crash structure of the car at the speed and quality we require. The rear crash structure, in particular, is one of the most complex parts of the car and the first ever part we machined on the Hyper Variaxis.”

Tony Saunders, UK sales director for Yamazaki Mazak, saidd: “Yamazaki Mazak is now in the thirteenth year of its official partnership with Vodafone McLaren Mercedes. The two new Hyper Variaxis machines take the team’s complement of Mazak machines to a total of 21, including multi-tasking and multi-axis machines. We are very proud that two of our machines have been used to manufacture key components for the new car and wish the team the best of luck during the new season.”