F1: Mercedes wants to eliminate one customer team (Update)

(GMM) Mercedes is looking to shed a Formula 1 engine customer, boss Toto Wolff has revealed.

Currently, the German marque supplies power units to its own works team in addition to Aston Martin, McLaren and Williams.

But Wolff told the Financial Times that the new financial limits in F1 mean Mercedes is not making “substantial amounts” from selling engines to smaller teams.

“Unfortunately, the business of leasing engines is not compelling and interesting because the FIA has put in a certain limit that you can charge your customers, in order to protect the smaller teams,” he said.

Wolff’s comments also coincide with a major performance dip for the works Mercedes team as Formula 1 transitioned to all-new ‘ground effect’ chassis rules for 2022.

The Austrian indicated that he is happy to keep two of Mercedes’ three engine customers.

“I’d rather have six (cars), push the development further down the line and then make two engines less because you need to produce two less plus two spares for every team,” said Wolff.

“In an ideal world, I would maybe see us plus two, so actually downsize a bit.”

He did not say which of Mercedes’ current customer teams would be kept or dropped, but all three have been linked with Volkswagen’s new F1 forays for 2026.

Is he using the excuse that customer team McLaren is beating his team using Mercedes engines, or is it really about money?

Mercedes Formula One boss Toto Wolff said he wants to cut from three to two the number of non-factory teams that race with its engines.

Wolff told the Financial Times in an interview published at the weekend that new spending rules meant Mercedes was no longer making “substantial amounts” from providing engines to others.

The Austrian said the business of leasing engines was not “compelling and interesting” because the governing FIA had limited how much customers could be charged in order to help smaller teams.

The German manufacturer supplies McLaren, Aston Martin and Williams as well as the title-winning works outfit of seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.

“In an ideal world, I would maybe see us (Mercedes) plus two (customer teams), so actually downsize a bit,” Wolff said in Monaco.