Sep.26 (GMM) As the uncertainty about Red Bull’s future in F1 races on, Gerhard Berger suggests the team could be back in the running for Mercedes power.
It is believed the Daimler board only recently rejected the matter of leaping to Red Bull’s rescue, with the divorce from Renault now just days away.
However, with Red Bull threatening seriously to withdraw both of its teams from the sport, it may be that Bernie Ecclestone has entered the fray.
Berger, historically close to Red Bull, told the German broadcaster Sky: “For me it is quite clear: the person in charge of formula one is required to say ‘It cannot be that our best team, that has been world champion four times, must consider being behind the others for a third year only because of the engine’.”
Red Bull chiefs Christian Horner and Dr Helmut Marko were spotted entering meetings with Ferrari at Suzuka on Saturday.
But Mercedes may also now be back in the running.
“It has been going back and forth,” said Berger, who is close to Austrian countryman Dietrich Mateschitz.
“I cannot tell where the discussions are at the moment, except that Helmut Marko is the new best friend of Toto Wolff,” he smiled.
Berger also rejected the theory that Red Bull is only getting what it deserves, having so stridently lambasted Renault throughout the ‘power unit’ era.
He said: “Red Bull is a four time world champion and I would say they are still the best team.
“To now be in a situation where they have to desperately seek a competitive engine is intolerable,” Berger added. “And I think it’s absolutely right that Red Bull says ‘We don’t accept any B-engine’.”