Mercedes has until October to decide on Formula E

Mercedes will have to decide by October whether it wants to take part in next year's FIA Formula E championship.

Under a prior agreement, Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix has a guaranteed spot on the grid - provided that it chooses to exercise the option.

But the company has already missed the deadline to enter as a manufacturer, so it would have to be a customer team in 2018/2019.

The FIA has already signed-off on the list of powertrain manufacturers for next season. That means Mercedes would have to lease a motor, gearbox and inverter from one of the approved manufacturers.

"I think the interest is very strong," Formula E CEO Alejandro Agag told Autosport magazine. "But for 2018/19 if they come, they are not registered as a manufacturer.

"They will need to be a client of somebody. For 2019/20 they could come as a manufacturer.

"We'll see what they do, they still have their option until October, they can choose to exercise it or not."

Jordan: 'Mercedes will pull the plug after 2018!'

Mercedes are currently contractually committed to Formula 1 until the end of 2020. Former team boss Eddie Jordan has suggested that Mercedes could quit the sport after that.

But that idea has been dismissed by Mercedes boss Toto Wolff. "The reports are completely baseless and reflect nothing more than the mischievous speculation of one individual," he said

If it opted to dip its toe into Formula E next season, Mercedes would be highly unlikely to want to partner with major rivals BMW.

That leaves DS, Mahindra, Renault, Jaguar, NextEV, Penske Autosport and Venturi as possible partners. Audi also supplies Formula E powertrains to the Abt team.

Agag has previously said that he also wants to see Ferrari enter the electric single-seater series. The sentiment was echoed by Ferrari's Sergio Marchionne who previously said that Ferrari "need to be involved" in the series.

"Electrification via hybridisation is going to be part of our future," he added.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.