Following the British Grand Prix, Red Bull Racing have been rumoured to be chasing a deal with Mercedes.
Red Bull Racing’s future in Formula One appears in the balance, they hold a contract with current engine partner Renault until the end of the 2016 Formula One World Championship season but from 2017 onwards it’s completely up in the air what might happen.
Renault are said to have been considering options from both ends of the spectrum, they’ve discussed withdrawing from Formula One entirely, or they could return to the sport as a manufacturer.
Talks regarding a buy-out of Toro Rosso and Force India have both done the rounds, but it now appears that they will be buying a majority shareholding of Lotus.
If this was to happen then Red Bull Racing would be left as having to choose between being a customer of Renault, Ferrari, Honda or Mercedes.
Unless they could persuade Audi to get involved in Formula One and that rumour has gone very quiet.
As Mercedes remain the best power-unit on the grid, unsurprisingly Red Bull Racing have been linked with doing a deal with the German manufacturer.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff appears open to the idea.
‘From a team perspective you have to have a no-prisoners approach and look in an opportunistic approach, But it’s also a matter of what we can do to make F1 function.’ he told Sky Sports.
But two-time Formula One World Champion Lewis Hamilton was far less open to the idea.
‘I think if we’re serious about winning world championships, probably not [wise to supply Red Bull].’ he said.
‘Red Bull is a great team and it’s like giving Ferrari our engine, We’re here to win so we don’t really need it. There’s no financial benefit really in it, so I think we’re good where we are.’
Meanwhile new-spec Mercedes engines will be used for the Italian Grand Prix after the Formula One constructors world champions spent their remaining seven development tokens.
Mercedes customer team Williams, Lotus and Force India are not thought to be running the new-specification yet.
Mercedes split on Red Bull deal
