Mercedes not blocking Red Bull-Honda deal

Mercedes will not stand in the way of Red Bull’s engine plans for 2022.

Red Bull has said its plan to take over the departing Honda’s engine operations depend entirely on whether rival teams support a 2022 development ’freeze’.

"If the freeze is necessary to keep Red Bull Honda in business, we will support it," Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff told the German broadcasters RTL and n-tv.

"We all have to work together to keep the manufacturers in Formula 1," he added.

"The Red Bull-Honda project is very ambitious, but I think they can do it. That’s why we are basically in favour of a freeze."

Wolff, however, said Mercedes’ main focus at the moment is on putting together the thousands of parts of the team’s 2021 car.

"It is nowhere near ready," he revealed. "And it won’t be ready until the last moments before the shakedown. So at the moment there is not much to see of the new car.

"Right now, it looks like someone tossed over a full box of Lego."