JANUARY 15, 2003

Mercedes willing to supply two teams in 2004

According to a report in THE GUARDIAN newspaper this morning, Mercedes-Benz says that it is willing to supply a secondary supply of engines in Formula 1 next year "under certain circumstances". The report says that these engines would be supplied for a cost of only $10m, considerably less than the money currently being demanded by Ferrari and Cosworth for their V10s this year.

It remains to be seen whether this will lead to other car manufacturers agreeing to join in, but as the FIA is pushing hard for a restriction on the number of engines allowed at each event, the manufacturers will have the capacity to supply other teams. In the past Renault, BMW and Honda have all supplied more than one team and if they agree to sensibly-priced deals as Mercedes-Benz seems to be doing, it will open the way for the current small teams to survive and perhaps even for new teams to be set up and come into the sport.

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