Team boss won't rule out 'contingency plan' and claims that three smaller outfits have already made enquiries
Thursday 4 June 2015 16:40, UK
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff says he can see them supplying customer cars to bolster the F1 grid and reckons he has already spoken to three smaller teams about such a "contingency plan".
Speaking at the Monaco GP, Wolff said he could not rule out the prospect and likened the scenario to the franchising of teams seen in other sports, for example the NFL.
Also in the United States, NASCAR does not run a franchise system as such, although smaller teams do receive chassis, engine and technical support from big outfits such as Hendrick Motorsports.
"I think we need to have a contingency plan in place. Customer cars, or franchises, we've seen that in other sports; we've seen that in NASCAR and it functions pretty well," Wolff said.
"If the contingencies about supplying our cars to customer teams - hopefully current teams – then, yes, we would look into it.
"It's a case of how we finance that and the technical regulations around that. But I wouldn't rule that out."
The idea was given fresh impetus on Thursday when the FIA announced details of its latest tender inviting a new entry for either the 2016 or 2017 season.
Design and development lead times are such that an incoming team could make the grid in 2017 with its own car. But the fact the governing body has also invited an entry for next season might suggest the use of customer cars.
The subject was placed squarely back on the agenda recently after it was discussed at a meeting of F1's Strategy Group.
While the meeting resulted in a number of proposals for 2017, including faster, lighter cars with more aggressive-looking aerodynamics and wider tyres, not to mention the return of refuelling, the use of customer cars was not explicitly mentioned in the FIA's subsequent press release.
Wolff and Red Bull team boss Christian Horner described the meeting as a positive one, although Force India counterpart Bob Fernley said that fundamental issues such as costs and income distribution were not tackled at all.
Fernley, who described the Strategy Group as "not fit for purpose", said: "I must have been at a different meeting. I don't think it was a good meeting at all. After 18 months, I think we failed totally to agree on any form of cost control.
"There's absolutely no way there is going to be any equitable distribution of income."
Like just about all the mid-sized and smaller teams, Force India are struggling financially. However, they stand alongside the likes of Williams, Lotus, Sauber and Manor as constructors opposed to the use of customer cars.
Even so, Wolff claimed that some of them have made discreet enquiries.
"That's interesting that they say that because three of them came to see me yesterday to see whether we could supply customer cars. So it's not true," he added.
"It's a good model - as a contingency plan it works and if we can find a business case around it, then we shouldn't rule it out."
