Bernie Ecclestone would like to see every car on the grid equipped with a Mercedes engine. The F1 supremo is increasingly frustrated with the current turbo V6 rules, as Mercedes is dominating and many fans and promoters are unhappy with the milder engine note. Asked specifically what he wants, Ecclestone told Sport Bild: “The old V8 engines, or the same engine for everybody. “I would like to sign a contract where every team is supplied with a Mercedes engine.”
Curiously, Mercedes team chairman Niki Lauda alluded to this idea earlier in Shanghai, when he told La Gazzetta dello Sport: “If Renault and Honda go, we will give 20 Mercedes engines to everyone and what is the problem?”
But Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff exclaimed: “I don’t think Ferrari would take a Mercedes engine!”. To which Ecclestone, 84, retorted: “Leave Ferrari out. They’re an exception”. And also curiously, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner doesn’t mind the sound of Ecclestone’s latest proposal. “Well, (team title sponsor) Infiniti already works with Mercedes,” he said.
Germany’s Sport Bild said that during the three-way interview with Wolff and Horner, Ecclestone repeatedly banged his fist on the table in frustration. Some of that frustration is with the governing FIA. “The FIA president is in a difficult position,” he said, referring to Jean Todt. “He doesn’t want to upset anybody. He wants to make everyone happy. Unfortunately, that is not easy.”
