Mercedes and Williams are to expand their technical collaboration, with the Grove outfit set to use the German team's gearbox and other components from next season.

Mercedes engines have powered Williams since the hybrid era began in 2014 and from 2022, the German team will also provide gearboxes and related hydraulic components.

Historically, Williams has built its own gearboxes and hydraulics in-house, however, the increased partnership will enable the Grove outfit to implement a more efficient design and manufacturing process in-house in the long-term, allowing the team to focus its resources more effectively in other performance areas. Williams will continue to design and manufacture other chassis parts internally.

"We are pleased to expand our technical cooperation with Williams through this new agreement," said Toto Wolff. "For Williams, it makes sense to acquire the integrated powertrain after running our power units since 2014 and for our team, it makes sense in terms of economies of scale to supply another team under the new rules.

"This is a project we have been discussing with Williams for some time and I am glad we have been able to bring this extension to fruition."

"I'm pleased to see our great relationship with Mercedes extend beyond the supply of engines," added Williams team principal, Simon Roberts. "Williams is an independent team, but Formula One is always evolving, and as a team we must be agile to react to the current climate in order to put the team in the best position to be competitive on track.

"This long-term agreement with Mercedes is a positive step and forms part of our strategic objectives for the future whilst we will still retain our design and manufacturing capabilities in-house."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Superbird70, 07/01/2021 2:00

"Gearbox swap for Russell on the Glienicke Bridge!!"

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2. Posted by trackrecords, 06/01/2021 20:15

"What Toto is really saying is, "we finally managed to twist their arm - be like Morgan, use our hardware and then spend your money on the bits that the public can see and reap the benefits!"
"

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3. Posted by C5, 06/01/2021 0:34

"@nnails

I do appreciate where you are coming from, and I do share your despair over the lack of variety. And lack of teams.

Yes, oddly enough, I'm not too upset about the sharing of power trains. To me, the engine and the power train (including kers/mgu-k/mgu-h or whatever the energy recovery and associated battery and motor systems are called next) is somewhat like a unit.

At least as the mechanical construction is concerned.

I still consider the actual packaging and - critically - all the software a different deal. I think sharing of that is much more of a concern, competition wise. Though very much hidden from, well, everyone, it's such a performance differentiator that each team absolutely should be on their own on that regard.

Sharing of wheel /suspension geometries is another concern of mine, as is the survival cell itself. And, obviousy, any aero parts.

But oddly, I don't feel too strongly about the drivetrain parts.

I think it's because I find the current regulations, where everything is specified out in such detail in the first place, uninteresting and constraining. Even if a team had infinite resources, they couldn't show up with quad electric motor drive powered by a four cylinder quad turbo engine, or a whatever exotic combination would yield the most performance out of the allocated 100 liters of fuel. So, it's already not all that interesting. Thus having teams share the parts doesn't really take much away, since there's so little to begin with?"

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4. Posted by Superbird70, 06/01/2021 0:24

"@nnails,
yup,
turbos, Leyton House, Minardi, Brabham, BMW"

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5. Posted by nnails, 05/01/2021 20:18

"When I first watched f1 we had v12 Honda, v10 Renault, judd , mugen ,megaton, Ford v8 , porsche , two tyre suppliers pirelli , Goodyear, manual gears, semi automatic , 7 speed, 6 speed , high nose , low nose , 32 cars turned up for pre qually .

Now we have
merc , aston , williams
Ferrari , alfa, haas
Red bull, alfa centaur
Renault
Mclaren
It won't be much longer we have one make racing
"

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Williams to use Mercedes gearboxes from 2022

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