Mercedes would welcome Porsche in F1

Mercedes want to see Porsche commit to a full-time entry into Formula One. The reigning world champions said they would welcome the competition and encouraged Porsche to become involved in the "sandpit" of F1 rivalry.

Speaking to Sky F1, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said that he would welcome them into the sport and hoped they did join after years of rumours.

“The more we can fight, on our little playground – in the sandpit – the more we enjoy it.

“I guess that Porsche’s interested, and looking at the environment, is not quite clear how. They are sitting on the table and giving their input.”

Porsche have conditioned their entry on becoming involved with an existing team rather than starting their own from square one. Red Bull and Williams have both been rumoured to be potential partners but nothing has been seriously considered, especially with the 2021 rules yet to be finalised.

“They are not cast in stone, but I guess next week in the Strategy Group we are going to hear a little bit more," Wolff added.

“It’s still not agreed between what’s been in the table in the past sessions and all of the engine manufacturers. So there are quite some tough discussions ahead, I guess.

“For us, it’s important that the technology message is still there, in efficiency. Because efficiency equals performance is important when the whole world moves into green and electricity, and we, for historic nostalgia, move 20 years back.

“It’s not something that we want to do. It needs to stay on a very high performance and efficiency level. It needs to be a different shade, and that is important for all us engine manufacturers and not a standard part.”