Wolff stands squarely with Red Bull: "It's a sensible proposal"

The much-discussed topic of October is Honda's departure from Formula 1 at the end of the 2021 season and the plans that Red Bull Racing would like to get through. For now, the idea is to have a development freeze from 2022. An idea that Ferrari doesn't want, but Mercedes, on the other hand, want to support the plan. Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff explains why.

Red Bull should be able to

"Well, I think Formula 1 is in a good state with three engine suppliers… potentially four, and I totally understand where Red Bull are coming from," said Wolff talking to Formula1.com. "They don’t want to go back to customer status, they want to be a works team; and they have the capability of tweaking it and maybe optimising it, and maybe there are a few things in the pipeline from Honda that are giving them confidence that there is more performance in the engine."

"But I think we should do everything to give Red Bull that opportunity." And by that Wolff is also referring to the fact that no one is waiting for a new 'war' in engine development that involves a lot of money. "I think that for them, going back to customer status is not something that they are very keen on."

In fact, Red Bull has already confirmed this with the plans, because then they will have to rely on Renault and that didn't go too smoothly last time in the last months of their marriage. "I truly believe that Honda have done a very good job... but equally I understand that they don’t want to go in a spending war with all the other OEMs in developing engines, so it’s a sensible proposal."

Very important brand

Wolff is in a way even very complementary to Red Bull Racing, the only team that threatens his Mercedes. At least, Max Verstappen especially if he rises above his material. Wolff sees the team as a very important part of the sport.

"I’d like to support (them), I think Red Bull is a tremendously important brand to Formula 1 and we should do everything to keep the two teams in Formula 1 and help them in the option for having, basically, works status.” Here Wolff relies very much on the idea that Red Bull Racing wants to have everything under its own control and is no longer dependent on external parties.

The fact that Wolff supports Red Bull's plan with these words is positive, but of course also in the interest of Mercedes. After all, they have nothing to lose if the engine development freezes.