Mercedes 'sharpening pencils' to address F1 engine costs

Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff says that Mercedes will look into the possibility of cutting the cost of F1 engines for customer teams, but admits that it would likely have a major impact on the manufacturer's business model.

Speaking in response to FIA president Jean Todt's pledge to try and address the costs being faced by the smaller teams on the F1 grid - which are estimated to sit at around EUR20million for engines alone - Wolff confirmed that the Three Pointed Star would at least give the problem due consideration.

Todt admitted last month that engine prices are excessively high and should have been addressed at the start of the new 1.6-litre turbo V6 era, and is retrospectively trying to address the situation - something that Wolff applauds, whilst admitting that it will be difficult for the manufacturers to cope with.

"Mr Todt wants to try and reduce the price of the engines for the customers, for the smaller teams, because the prices are quite a large chunk of the overall budget, and we are taking it very seriously," the Austrian confirmed, "We are looking into things but, unfortunately, the situation is that we have set up a business case with these engines with an underlying investment and knowledge. However, we acknowledge that [cutting costs] is important, so we are sharpening our pencils and looking at the situation - and we have promised to come back with an answer as to whether it is feasible or not.

"It would massively impact the situation because in a large corporation, you set up your business case, you justify your investment and then you sign contracts. If that needs to be adjusted or changed because the environment has become more difficult then it is a huge challenge for such an organisation like ours. You need to come up with a solution, you need to have a plan, and you need to justify why you are changing things, so that is the tricky bit."

Mercedes currently supplies Williams, Force India and Lotus as well as powering the 'works' cars of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.