Wolff insists Racing Point and Mercedes will not be "a Haas-Ferrari model"

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has insisted the team's working relationship with Racing Point won't be like Ferrari's with Haas F1, even though the Austrian also admitted Racing Point does make use of their facilities as well as their parts.

Haas have become notorious within the paddock of making a lot of use of Ferrari. So much so, that teams like Renault have filed complaints to the FIA about how much they borrow from Ferrari. It's been one of the main reasons for the Americans' recent success.

“First of all, we are not doing a Haas-Ferrari model because Haas was a new entry, a team created from scratch,” Wolff countered when asked by RaceFans about Racing Point potentially becoming a B-team.

“Our model is very different. Andy [Green] and his team know pretty well what they want to achieve with the car, they have a solid technical group of people and will go in that direction.

“They will be using some of our infrastructure and we will see where that moves for the 2021 regulations. Once these are carved out, we will decide which of the areas we want to collaborate and where it is possible, regulatory-wise.”

When asked if he supports this model that Haas operate with, Wolff was surprisingly nuanced in his answer.

“I don’t see what’s so bad in a Haas-Ferrari model actually.

"We have enabled somebody that was keen to enter Formula 1 in setting up a team, with the cooperation with Ferrari it got out of the blocks really well, and fights solidly in the midfield. I think that’s good for Formula 1.”