© Jiri Krenek for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
Crazy rumours came out recently, saying that Mercedes-Benz could start providing their best engines to Aston Martin, instead of their works team. Red Bull and AlphaTauri react.
After Aston Martin outperformed Mercedes at the Bahrain Grand Prix, crazy rumours started coming out saying that the Mercedes-Benz HQ could opt to support Aston Martin instead of their works team.
Mercedes and Aston Martin already have a technical partnership in place, which includes Mercedes supplying the British team with power units and other parts, however, these completely unsubstantiated rumours said that if Aston Martin starts fighting for the championship, the Mercedes HQ could start providing the team with their best engines.
Of course, this doesn’t makes any sense, because power unit suppliers are already required to provide equal equipment to their customer teams.
This situation prompted the media to ask several F1 personalities to comment on these rumours.
“The regulations clearly prescribe to the engine manufacturers that all customers must receive the same material,” AlphaTauri team boss Franz Tost told Sport1.
“And as far as I know, everyone adheres to this meticulously. Preference for one team over another is therefore prohibited and unrealistic.”
Red Bull advisor Dr Helmut Marko said it doesn’t make any sense to boost a customer team over your own works outfit.
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“Why should Mercedes make a competitor stronger?” Marko said.
“At the end of the day, Aston Martin is a competitor for Mercedes in the passenger car sector.
“Mercedes are going to do everything to forget the disappointing season opener, and in this ambitious task there is certainly no room to help Aston Martin.”
Even former F1 driver Gerhard Berger pointed out these rumours are nonsensical.
“For the fan, Mercedes races against Ferrari, Aston Martin, Renault and everyone else,” Berger said.
“They are the opponents they have to beat for image reasons. So you certainly wouldn’t help your opponent like that.
“The next few weeks will show whether Aston Martin is consistently stronger than Mercedes or whether that was only the case in Bahrain,” he added.
