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Mercedes and Williams to discuss gearbox supply deal

18:30, 02 Aug 2018

byJake Williams-Smith

Mercedes could be set to supply gearboxes to Williams from as soon as next season. The reigning world champions currently supply the power unit that Williams use however their deal could extend further from 2019 as Williams look to mount a comeback after a disappointing 2018 campaign thus far.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff told Formula1.com that the deal could be done in the next few weeks but that it would have to be a decision that is made sooner rather than later as the teams prepare to switch focus to next year's cars.

"We are in discussions about doing that," he said.

"They are an engine client of ours. It’s not a huge thing to increase that to a gearbox.

“Nothing is signed, nothing is done and we need to decide in the next few weeks because the chassis design is at an advanced stage for Williams, so we’ll see how that pans out.”

Although Williams have a strong tradition as an independent constructor, Williams chief technical officer Paddy Lowe admitted that the team were considering asking Mercedes for a gearbox supply next season.

"(We) have our eyes open" (to a collaboration) but we have a strong culture of being an independent, being a constructor.

"Formula 1 is changing. Force India were one of the early ones to abandon the full constructor definition that teams had historically followed of essentially making everything except an engine.

“We’ve seen more and more teams adopting gearboxes from elsewhere. Now we have the Haas model where you adopt everything that is not listed.

“We have our eyes open to all of those possibilities because we owe it to ourselves. You’ve got to move with the times and do the best thing for the performance of the team.

“But having said that, Williams has a strong culture of being an independent, being a constructor, not only in the parts we are responsible for but also we are making them in-house.

“We have a capacity of manufacturing on our own site and we’ve prided ourselves on that. I don’t see us moving drastically away from that. But we remain open.”