Wolff supported the Mercedes and negated speculations suggesting F1 without the team
The German Formula 1 team’s future had been in the swirl of speculations.
FIA and Formula 1 Group aims to re-structure the sport and start a new era in 2021. Most of the teams have showed up their consent to remain in the sport.
However, Mercedes have not signed the new Concorde agreement with the relevant authorities
Toto Wolff, while speaking at press conference where Mercedes announced a deal with INEOS, was positive about the team and its future.
“Like always we are in this for the long term,” he said. “F1 provides a great marketing platform for our brand. This is what we do.
“We build race cars and we build road cars. F1 is the halo platform for hybrid engineering. That is something that is not communicated enough, because it was talked down at the beginning of the V6 hybrid era. And it’s something we should really put more emphasis on.
“In that respect with, with all the things that are out in the media, we like the platform, but at the same time, we’re in a negotiation with the rights holders, and things need to be sorted out. But the partnership is clearly something that indicates our wish to continue our successful journey in F1.”
The media was swarming with the speculations of Mercedes quitting the F1 sport next year. The move was speculated as a part of cutting cost for the parent group Daimler.
But Wolff thrashed the speculations by suggesting as a normal procedure for any big firm to conduct its business.
“F1 has always been a great provider of headlines over the winter break. And by the sheer lack of racing results and the controversy on track, dropping a bombshell of a headline, always sells,” he said.
“And in that respect, I’m always surprised that there’s just some lunatic out there that writes something on an internet page and it’s being picked up, which was a complete nonsense story, which was put straight by the CEO of Daimler the following day. That is one part of the story.
“The other part is that with everything we do, we have to question is it the right activity that we deploy? It’s whether it’s in the petrochemical business, whether it’s as an OEM in the car industry, or whether it’s F1.
“We, as Daimler today, we see the advantages and the benefits that Formula 1 as a marketing platform provides to us and we see the data. And that is the underlying condition why we’re doing it.”
