Mercedes never heard back from Red Bull

As the Red Bull Racing saga rolled on into yet another week and another Grand Prix, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff revealed that Mercedes did consider a supply deal.

During the Russian Grand Prix weekend most of the talk in the paddock revolved around the future of Red Bull Racing.

The former four-time Formula One constructors champions are currently engine-less for next season, they did have a deal in place with Renault for 2016 but opted to serve notice on that deal due to a poor season.

Red Bull approached Mercedes over a supply deal from 2016, but this was rejected by the Mercedes board.

They then moved into discussions with Ferrari, but this weekend it appeared that they too had rejected Red Bull Racing.

The main thinking behind both Mercedes and Ferrari rejecting supplying Red Bull Racing is that neither team want to hand over their prized asset to a competitor who could in theory beat them.

Whilst Mercedes supply Williams and Force India, they currently do not offer them the same power-unit as the works team are currently using.

The same is believed to be the case with Ferrari and Sauber.

Red Bull obviously would like parity and then with their aerodynamic package would be contenders for titles.

So why would either Mercedes or Ferrari consider it?

The German manufacturer apparently did consider it, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff appeared more than open to the idea, not on the basis of competition but on what was best for the sport.

The compromise would be what was in it for Mercedes? In Russia, Wolff revealed that Mercedes wanted a deal with Red Bull which would benefit the Mercedes road car brand sufficiently enough to potentially give up their sporting position.

However when Mercedes requested feedback on this it was not forthcoming.

Speaking in Russia, Wolff told Sky Sports: ‘In the end result we are united with a flat no. But we had some discussions over the summer,’

‘Red Bull is a very hip brand. [We wondered] is there in any way we can make that work so that Mercedes benefits from an association with Red Bull on the road car side with joint platforms so we can afford to dilute our success in Formula 1?

‘We weighed it up, we expected some feedback, we didn’t get the feedback we were waiting for and then at a certain moment you need to stop wobbling around and just close the chapter. This is what we did.’