Mercedes looking to drop F1 engine customer says team boss
May 30 - Mercedes is looking to shed a Formula 1 engine customer, boss Toto Wolff has revealed.
Currently, the German marque supplies power units to its own works team in addition to Aston Martin, McLaren and Williams.
But Wolff told the Financial Times that the new financial limits in F1 mean Mercedes is not making "substantial amounts" from selling engines to smaller teams.
"Unfortunately, the business of leasing engines is not compelling and interesting because the FIA has put in a certain limit that you can charge your customers, in order to protect the smaller teams," he said.
Wolff's comments also coincide with a major performance dip for the works Mercedes team as Formula 1 transitioned to all-new 'ground effect' chassis rules for 2022.
The Austrian indicated that he is happy to keep two of Mercedes' three engine customers.
"I'd rather have six (cars), push the development further down the line and then make two engines less, because you need to produce two less plus two spares for every team," said Wolff.
"In an ideal world, I would maybe see us plus two, so actually downsize a bit."
He did not say which of Mercedes' current customer teams would be kept or dropped, but all three have been linked with Volkswagen's new F1 forays for 2026.
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What engine development...? The engines are frozen they've been supplying 3 customers teams for yrs since 2014, to say now theres no money in it for them is bollox , seems a more likely scenario is they are panicking about Vw Imo
Spot on, but rather than panic more likely a German business decision to make room for the VW Group.
Sorry Lawrence.
Williams would probably get dropped from the mix, given how close Aston & Mercedes are on technical aspects, even in the road car sector, while Mclaren is only in its 2nd season in the rejuvenated partnership.
Whether this move would happen for next season already is another matter, but in this case, Williams could become a Renault PU customer or even start using RB-brander Honda PU.
12mths notice as I understand it
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