Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMercedes

Mercedes open to Manor becoming B-team

Toto Wolff says Mercedes would consider using Manor as a B-team if the regulations allow it to do so for a performance benefit.

Ferrari's technical partnership with Haas came under close scrutiny last season and led to Mercedes seeking clarification from the FIA, which ultimately ruled there had been no wrongdoing but moved to close off a loophole allowing the relationship.

With Mercedes supplying Manor with power units this season and Pascal Wehrlein securing one of the race seats, when asked if Manor could become Mercedes' B-team, Wolff told Auto Motor und Sport: "We must keep open all possibilities.

"If it is within the rules that you can bring performance through cooperation between two teams, then you have to explore it. I am not entirely convinced whether it is the right direction for Formula 1, when the big racing teams use B-teams to try certain development directions.

"We have a big rule change before us in 2017, so it could be worth its weight in gold. The collaboration with another team could spare each of you a failure. But as I said I do not think the philosophy is right."

However, when asked if Manor is already the Mercedes B-team, Wolff replied: "No, but besides Pascal Wehrlein they also use one of our wind tunnels."

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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.