Toto Wolff will "firmly" defend the Mercedes brand against accusations of wrongdoing

Mercedes

Wolff will "firmly" defend the Mercedes brand against accusations of wrongdoing

Wolff does not wish to see Mercedes dragged into the Racing Point brake duct saga

Sam Hall

Wednesday 19 August 2020 13:51 Updated: 13:56

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has confirmed he will "defend our brand firmly" if attempts are made to implicate the Silver Arrows in the Racing Point brake duct appeal process.

On Tuesday, former HRT, Jordan, Midland and Caterham team boss Colin Kolles told German Sport1 he had been informed that not only had Mercedes supplied parts and data to Racing Point, but also a 60 per cent scale wind tunnel model and a full-size show car.

Speaking during the Spanish Grand Prix weekend, Wolff made clear that he would take any steps necessary to defend the Mercedes "brand" from such claims.

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The Austrian explained: “I think first of all, copying the car more than from photos is something we would know and that is why from my perspective it is total nonsense to pursue that argument. I will be defending our brand firmly if somebody were to go down that route."

As well as defending his own team, Wolff has made clear his personal belief that the design process employed by Racing Point on the RP20 is legal and that the International Court of Appeal will reach this conclusion.

The debate at hand, in the view of the Austrian, is a more fundamental one over the basic DNA of Formula 1. He continued: “One can discuss the philosophy of ‘do we want to have cars that look like other cars’ and ‘do we want to close up and tighten the regulations so these kind of things are not possible anymore’.

"That is a debate we can have with the FIA and commercial rights holder and the teams, to discuss whether the regulations, that have been interpreted in the correct way by Racing Point, should be changed going forward or not.”

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