Mercedes Open to Haas like Deal with Williams and Force India

Haas and Ferrari enjoy a very strong partnership, something which has been criticized a lot off late because of Haas progress this season. Ferrari provides Haas with engine along with other technological help – as much as possible withing the current FIA mandate. Seeing how that has worked with Haas F1, Mercedes’ executive director, Toto Wolff, said, the team is open to such an agreement with its customer teams, Williams and Force India.

“We have seen that the system between Ferrari and Haas has worked, it has worked for both,” said Wolff.

“It’s an interesting revenue filler for Ferrari, and in terms of synergies, there is a lot you can work on, and it has functioned for Haas.

“They are a very competitive team without having built on a legacy, or without having built on knowhow that would have taken years and years to collect.

“So far the system is very successful, and of course our thinking goes in that direction – whether it is Williams or Force India to collaborate.

“But we are in the middle of a tough fight for this 2018 championship, so we need to prioritise.”

“The devil is in the detail,” he added. “It is not only about production, but it’s also it is about getting in order not to distract yourself, you need to do it properly.

“It would be a long-term project and not something where you can expect a huge impact for 2019. You need two or three years to ramp up.

“It can be beneficial, but it needs to be done in the right way because you need to get the balance right between distraction and really optimising the synergies. It’s not trivial.”

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Apart from a technical partnership, this deal will make sense for Mercedes as it could try out its future lineups with these teams as well. With Lewis Hamilton not getting younger anytime soon, Mercedes will be very eager to try out drivers from its academy and carve out a future champion.

The talks of a Mercedes like partnership came into light when Lance Stroll’s father Lawrence, spoke about Williams being a Mercedes-B team, much similar to Haas and Ferrari. And while it definitely makes sense for either Force India or Williams to try it out, Claire Williams was quick to clarify that her team will not let anything hamper their independence.