22/09/2015
NEWS STORY
Days after Christian Horner admitted that his team's request to use Mercedes engines in 2016 had been turned down, Toto Wolff has shed further light on the decision.
"We decided with our board that we as an engine supplier - and as a team - have worked hard and long to achieve the success we have today, after taking the decision to enter the sport again as a works team in 2010," he told the official F1 website.
"Therefore we decided two weeks ago against exploring an engine supply to Red Bull," he admitted. "We wish to continue with our model to support independent, privateer racing teams - and to respect the relationships we already have in place with our customers - alongside our primary focus on the Mercedes works team.
Asked if he was the driving force behind the decision, he said: "I have never hidden my opinion. But we take decisions collectively and objectively, evaluating all the pros and cons, and not as individuals.
"It is the opinion of somebody who is responsible for the Mercedes motorsport program," he added, referring to his feelings on the matter, "responsible for 1,200 employees and who also has the responsibility to represent the Mercedes-Benz brand in the right way in Formula One‎ - and to make sure it is represented in the right way by others, too. Full stop!"
Mercedes also turned down an approach from Haas.
"We decided against the deal, as we want to concentrate on our main focus - on our number-one objective - and that is the works Mercedes-Benz F1 Team," he admits. "Every dilution would have harmed our main goal and that is to win races and championships. Haas is a cooperation partner with Ferrari and we would never interfere with a cooperation that hasn't even started on track."
At Monza, Mercedes introduced its upgraded engine, however, there is concern from the customer teams as to when they might access to it.
"We have the philosophy of supplying the same specification of engines to all," says Wolff. "There might be exceptional situations, like the one in Monza, where we carry out development work that needs to be checked on track, and therefore the supply of parts is very difficult.
"You saw that on Nico's car, I am not sure if our customers would have been happy with a car stopping because they ran a development engine!"