Lauda wanted to give Red Bull a Mercedes engine

Mercedes sporting director Ron Meadows has revealed that Niki Lauda previously wanted the Silver Arrows to provide one of their own engines to Red Bull, so that the latter would have a power unit capable of providing them with competition.

Twelve days ago, Lauda passed away after battling ill-health since a lung transplant in August of last year. Since then, tributes have flooded in for the Austrian, and it would be a Mercedes tribute video in which Meadows would confess to Lauda’s intentions with Red Bull.

“I remember in the early years that Niki really wanted to give Red Bull a Mercedes engine,” the Mercedes director said.

“His idea was that it would make us a stronger team because then we would have stronger competition.”

However, Mercedes kiboshed the idea of strenghthening a fierce rival, even though Lauda’s intentions were to ultimately make the Silver Arrows stronger by forcing them to improve.

Today we say goodbye to Niki Lauda.

Niki will always be remembered as an @F1 icon and as the Chairman of our team.

But we’ll also remember Niki Lauda the man. This is the story of our Niki. Our team-mate. Our dear friend.

Niki, we miss you ❤https://t.co/v1S8sUWGxp

— Mercedes-AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) May 29, 2019

“Of course we did not want that and wanted to keep the engine purely for ourselves,” Meadows added.

“It took some persuasion, but in the end, he understood.

“I do understand that he wanted it because he wanted to make us better every day.”

PHOTOS: Hamilton, Prost and more F1 stars turn out for Lauda funeralRead more

This week, Lauda’s funeral took place in Vienna, where several F1 figures attended.

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