Alpine deny, but Mercedes confirm: 'There are exploratory talks'
F1 News
- Ludo van Denderen
With the arrival of Flavio Briatore as advisor, Alpine are trying to get the languishing team back on track. The Italian is busy trying to find a suitable partner for Pierre Gasly - rumours of Carlos Sainz's arrival are getting louder - while also looking at the French team's technical future. It was recently leaked that Briatore has spoken to Mercedes about supplying Alpine with their power units.
Alpine has until now adamantly denied that there were any plans to discontinue its own engine programme. However, Toto Wolff, the CEO of the Mercedes F1 Team seems to admit that the French have indeed knocked on his door. The Austrian is open to providing power units to an additional team - besides Williams and McLaren - anyway. "I think, a complicated situation," Wolff calls it.
"We like the thought of replacing Aston Martin with another team because of the sheer learning you're doing. I think we're set up as an organization that the more power units, the better it is in terms of accelerating some of the developments or the reliability. So, I think it's a complicated situation. I think this is where it is (the talks with Alpine, ed.)," Wolff said.
Mercedes open to deal with Alpine
According to the Mercedes' F1 team's CEO, talks are not far advanced. "I think it didn't go beyond the point of exchanging opinions or having exploratory discussions. I think Alpine would make a decision if they want to continue with their Formula One engine program or not. And only if, only when they have taken that strategic decision, we would dive into our agreements. But we're open-minded. And that's what we have told them.."
Wolff does not claim that there will be a decision on facilitating Alpine before the summer break. "No, that's a far too complicated and long-lasting, impactful decision for Alpine to make," Wolff concluded.