Mercedes wants to provide the same engine for its customers

In Monza at the beginning of September, Mercedes announced the use of the seven development tokens remaining at his disposal, to make improvements to its V6 turbo / hybrid Power Unit. New specifications only seen since on the single-seaters of the German team, customer teams, in particular Williams being still deprived of these developments.

“We have the philosophy of providing the same specification of engines to everyone. There can be exceptional situations, like Monza recently, where development work needs to be verified on track. In addition, the supply of parts is very difficult. » Explain Toto wolff, the boss of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport on the official F1 website. You saw what happened to Nico Rosberg's car. I am convinced that a customer team would have been angry if their car had stopped because it had a development engine. »

The Austrian also returned to the aborted discussions between Mercedes and Red Bull concerning the engine supply for 2016, the team Milton Keynes which should no longer benefit from the engine Renault. “We decided with our board that as an engine supplier – and as a team? we have worked hard to achieve the success we have today, having made the decision to return as an official team in 2010, continues Wolff.

We spoke out two weeks ago against the exploration of an engine supply for Red Bull. We want to continue our model of supporting independent and private racing teams, and respect the relationships already in place with our customers, alongside our main objective with the Mercedes team. »

The German team, sovereign since the start of the 2015 championship, however suffered greatly last weekend in Singapore. Lewis Hamilton was forced to retire (electrical problem) and Nico Rosberg finally failed to reach the podium.

Find the full report of the Singapore Grand Prix, produced by our special correspondents on site, in issue 2030 of AUTOhebdo, available now in digital version, and on newsstands tomorrow.