Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff has explained why a Haas/Ferrari-style relationship is not yet on the cards with Racing Point.
When the former Force India outfit was taken over by Lawrence Stroll last summer, some teams had threatened to reject attempts by Liberty Media to help, citing increasing Mercedes influence.
However, in the eight months since, the partnership has not progressed beyond the engine supply deal which has been in place since 2009.
“We are not doing a Haas-Ferrari model because Haas was a new entry, a team created from scratch,” Wolff explained to Crash.net. “These guys have existed for a long time.
“Our model is very different. For the reasons stated before, [Racing Point technical director] 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.”
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There has been a lot of talk about the so-called ‘B-team’ model with Renault, McLaren and Williams pushing for the rules to be tightened up in 2021.
The Mercedes boss though insists he has no problem with the practice.
“I don’t see what’s so bad in a Haas-Ferrari model actually,” he said.
“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.”
As for a future adoption of the model with Racing Point, Wolff admitted it couldn’t be ruled out.
“They will be using some of our infrastructures and we will see where that moves for the 2021 regulations,” he explained.
“Once these are carved out, we will decide which of the areas we want to collaborate and where it is possible, regulatory-wise.”