Rumour has it, the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team is contemplating an exodus from the pinnacle of motorsports. As it stands, the team is currently dominating the sport as evidenced by their 6-consecutive constructor’s and driver’s championships since 2014, and remains the team to beat in the modern turbo V6 era.
But as anyone remotely familiar with the sport will tell you, Formula One is an unbelievably expensive sport to compete in. In a joint report by Autocar and RaceFans.net published recently, the fate of the championship-winning team will be decided at the next Daimler AG board meeting.
“Not True,” said Ola Kaellenius, the Chief Executive Officer of Daimler on the sidelines of the German Auto Industry annual reception in Berlin when asked if Mercedes were planning to leave the Liberty Media-owned sport.
AutoCar reports that an exodus from the sport is under serious consideration. As mentioned, money is the biggest factor in racing at this level. Mercedes is fighting to stem disappointing financial results while trying to redirect research and development investments to road car technologies and to alleviate pressure to reduce its carbon footprint.
Given Formula One’s 2021 rules overhaul, Mercedes are under pressure to make a decision quickly in order to stem spending resources on the 2021 campaign whilst allowing future owners the lead time to prepare for that season. Furthermore, Mercedes are also under pressure to sign up to a new commercial contract with F1’s rights holders which would require it to give at least 9 months’ notice before exiting the sport. Under the terms of its current agreements, it can leave at the end of 2020.
The joint report also goes on to suggest that Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll – owner of the Racing Point team and father to of driver Lance – is supposedly interested in taking over the team; Stroll was also rumoured to be interested in buying Aston Martin. This seems to suggest that if Mercedes decides to leave the sport, Stroll could take over the team and turn it into an Aston Martin works team. Toto Wolff – the current principal and team CEO who also holds a 30 percent stake in the team – might stay on for this Aston effort.
Nevertheless, even If the team decides to pull its entry, Mercedes won’t just disappear but rather will continue having a high-level presence in the sport as an engine supplier. It already has contracts in place with McLaren and Racing Point and potentially the new owners of the current Mercedes team and current customer, Williams.
If Mercedes were to leave the pinnacle of motorsports, it might trigger Lewis Hamilton’s departure from the three-pointed star to Ferrari. The six-time British world champion could potentially be partnering Charles Leclerc from 2021, with Sebastian Vettel making way. On the other hand, the team’s change in ownership doesn’t mean he’ll move either.
In a report by ESPN, Wolff was quoted saying, "I think we need to become more efficient, I think we need to provide a solid business case. We need to reduce the contribution from Daimler into our exercise, and if we are able to achieve that, then we're in Formula One for the long term."
Daimler has yet to make a concrete decision on the future of the championship-winning team but we should know more about their intentions in the coming weeks. Mercedes is due to launch its 2020 F1 car on February 14th. Stay tuned to this space for more updates.
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