Mercedes is close to accepting £700million deal with Ineos in order to let go off 70% stake in the dominant Formula 1 team.
Mercedes after nearly eight years of domination in the sport are reportedly set to sell their majority stake of the team to Ineos as the latter submits a huge bid of £700million.
According to the Daily Mail, Ineos has agreed to buy ’70 per cent share in the German team’ which is well on its way to winning a seventh successive championship double.
Former F1 team boss Eddie Jordan broke the news. “The ownership of the team is going to be taken over by Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos,” Jordan told the British tabloid.
“The Ineos name is already on the side of the car anyway and they have this technological partnership so this is a nice way out for Mercedes.”
“The team will be called Ineos but it will still be run from the factory in Brackley and Mercedes will retain a 30 per cent share in it. It will not be known as Mercedes any more and Toto Wolff, the team principal, will no longer be in charge.”
“It has become difficult for them. How can they keep winning? How can they improve on what they have already done? They can’t. Toto’s reputation as one of the great team leaders in the history of the sport is already secure.”
“What he has achieved at Mercedes puts him in the same league as Ron Dennis at McLaren and Jean Todt at Ferrari but all good things come to an end.”
Mercedes deny rumours, but why it is a possibility?
Despite the rumours being lasting for several months, Mercedes has constantly denied the reports and claimed that they wish to continue competing in F1 for years to come under the banner of Mercedes-Benz and want Wolff to serve the team.
But it is still a possibility as rumours say that the parent company Daimler feels that it has nothing more to achieve in Formula 1 in the following years.
Also read: F1 2 Hour Time Limit: Why F1 races can exceed 2 hour limit?
Mercedes has signed the new Concorde agreement which guarantees the presence of the team till 2025, but it’s notnecessary that the team will work under the same banner.
