Not everybody is excited about McLaren’s reunification with Honda in 2015. We can’t imagine why, the Marlboro liveried Macs reigned supreme during one of F1’s golden eras and many hope those glory days are near again.
Well, of course, if we worked for Mercedes-Benz we could probably imagine not being overly pleased. Unrequited love is never very satisfying.
Mercedes Executive Director, Toto Wolff, explains things are okay with McLaren now, but says he expects relations will shift as the year goes on.
“In these early days of the season we have a short-term target which is common—in making the power unit reliable and performing,” Wolff told Autosport. “It is welcome that we are all having an exchange and all sharing the same short term target, and this is to make the power unit last and be quick.
“How that is going to pan out during the season, that daily management of the relationship, could change obviously.”
Wolff explains Mercedes is okay with playing happy families now, but it will soon be keen to protect its intellectual property.
“There is still a fair amount of knowledge that you can share on developing the power unit,” he said. “But then there is a fair amount of knowledge that you wouldn’t want to exchange anyway because they are switching to Honda.
“I think certainly them heading off to one of our competitors is not an ideal situation.”
[Source: Autosport]