Aston Martin’s start to the season has been nothing short of phenomenal, with Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll both showing that they have a car at their disposal which can push Red Bull.
Mercedes, meanwhile, has been far from convincing yet again this season.
Following a poor showing in Bahrain, the team had reportedly been served an ultimatum by the bigwigs at Mercedes-Benz. The message was clear: A priority switch to Aston Martin unless Mercedes had a car with a shot at winning by the fourth race weekend.
While this is believed to have put Toto Wolff under immense pressure, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko couldn’t help but ridicule the suggestion of this actually happening.
“Why should Mercedes make a competitor stronger?” Marko said.
“That does not make sense. Despite all the cooperation: At the end of the day, Aston Martin is a competitor for Mercedes in the passenger car sector.
“Mercedes will now do everything to make the season-opener, which was disappointing for them, forgotten. In this ambitious task there is certainly no room to help Aston Martin.”
This view was supported by AlphaTauri team boss Franz Tost, who termed the entire rumour as “nonsense”.
He emphasised that the rules state all works teams and their customers must receive the exact same specification of power unit.
“The rumours are nonsense,” he said.
“The regulations clearly prescribe to the engine manufacturers that all customers must receive the same material. And as far as I know, everyone adheres to that very meticulously.
“A preference for a team is therefore prohibited and unrealistic.”