Mercedes still out in the cold

Mercedes remains the only Formula 1 team yet to agree terms to commit itself to the sport from next year until 2020, as Bernie Ecclestone continues to play hard-ball with the Stuttgart firm.

In March this year, Ecclestone announced that Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren and most of the other top teams had already agreed to sign up to the new Concorde Agreement, the binding document that contracts teams into F1. But Mercedes is not happy with the deal it has been offered.

The impasse has led to speculation that the main board is reconsidering its involvement in GP racing. However Fl team CEO Nick Fry says it remains committed.

“Mercedes want to be in F1 and discussions continue to find a resolution,” he told Motor Sport. “It’s a matter of finding a solution that both sides find fair, and it doesn’t go beyond that. I’m confident that good sense will prevail.”

Fry denied that Mercedes had a stronger focus on trying to reduce its expenditure than any other team owner: “For everyone in F1 the cost is a critical factor, which is why we’ve got the Resource Restriction Agreement in place, and why hopefully that will continue.

“Mercedes-Benz is in no different position to everyone on the grid, which is that F1 needs to be a good business proposition. We need to make sure it continues to offer good value for the significant investment going into it.”

The big questions of F1, p74