Schumacher – “There is a possibility Mercedes could leave F1”

Talk of Mercedes leaving Formula One continue to ramble on as their future in the sport remains. uncertain.

Speculation increased when Mercedes team principal, Toto Wolff, bought a one percent stake in Aston Martin who will join the grid next year as they take over the current Racing Point team.

Former F1 driver and Mercedes DTM driver Ralf Schumacher has this week told Germany’s Bild publication that he thinks Mercedes’ chances of exiting the sport have increased because of the COVID-19 outbreak:

“I believe there is a possibility that they [Mercedes] could leave Formula 1 due to the crisis at the end of the year.

“We had that with BMW over ten years ago. The possibility is always there although I think that due to Mercedes’ successes of recent years, I don’t think getting out of F1 will be the first step for them.”

The coronavirus crisis is inevitably going to cause some big changes across the motorsport world as manufacturers no longer have the money and investment to put money into motorsport and will therefore simply pull out unless costs are reduced.

Schumacher makes reference to the recession in 2008/09 which caused Honda, Toyota and BMW to leave F1 in quick succession. The coronavirus is likely to cause a similar scenario according to the German.

Audi will pull the plug on their DTM programme at the end of 2020 to put their efforts into Formula E and possibly the WRC, leaving the championship with just one manufacturer in BMW.

Mercedes joined the ABB FIA Formula E Championship last November and more importantly the new head of Daimler (Mercedes parent company), Ola Kallenius, is reportedly looking to put more effort into the road programme and reportedly does not have as good of a relationship with Wolff compared to previous Daimler leader Dieter Zetsche.

Over the next few months, we should get news on what Mercedes decide to do and consequently where their drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas drive in 2021.