Toto Wolff says that each team should support the engine freeze as they have to do all they can to keep Red Bull in F1.
With Honda leaving the sport at the end of the 2021 campaign, Red Bull are looking to take over the Japanese manufacturer’s operation and make their own engines.
However, Helmut Marko has said that they will only do so if an engine freeze is implemented. If not, the Austrian has claimed that they could leave the sport.
According to him, the transition is fully arranged and ready to go; they’re now just waiting on a decision to be made.
“Everything has been settled between us and Honda,” he told Auto Motor Und Sport.
“The timing is set. Everyone is in the starting blocks. But there will only be an okay when we have written proof from the FIA that the development freeze on the engine side is coming.”
Such a decision was expected last week but for unknown reasons never came.
“The agreement that existed on Friday was no longer there on Monday,” Marko told Motorsport-Magazin.
“There are further talks and negotiations.”
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Mercedes and team principal Wolff stated their support for a freeze early on in the process, and he has now reiterated such support.
Why? Because, in his eyes, everything should be done to ensure that Red Bull don’t leave the grid.
“If the freeze is necessary to keep Red Bull Honda in business, we will support it,” he told RTL.
“We all have to try together to keep the manufacturers in Formula 1. The Red Bull Honda project is very ambitious, but I think they can do that.
“That’s why we are basically for a freeze.”
Ferrari meanwhile originally were firmly opposed to the idea of an engine freeze, but then had a change of heart, with team principal Mattia Binotto backing it and also expressing support for the proposal to move new engine regulations forward a year to 2025.
Of the three manufacturers, Renault is the ones most likely to oppose it having not stated their support publicly but in fact, doing the opposite.
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