F1 budget worth every cent and more - Wolff

Mercedes has no thoughts whatsoever about reassessing its commitment to formula one.

The German carmaker left McLaren to become its own works team at the start of the decade, and in the new ’power unit’ era has been utterly dominant.

That recent success, however, has been thanks to a huge annual budget, but team boss Toto Wolff insists it is worth every cent and more.

"We have very precise figures, in fact," he told the Austrian newspaper Tiroler Tageszeitung newspaper.

"In the last season we generated 3 billion dollars in advertising value, meaning that is the sum we would have to invest in TV and print advertising to achieve a similar result to our commitment in F1," added Wolff.

He said Mercedes therefore has no thoughts at all about quitting the sport.

"As we saw with Toyota and BMW etcetera, many teams come and go. But with us it is something different.

"The first Mercedes that was ever built was a racing car. Motor sport is in our DNA, and even hard times would not change this," Wolff insisted.