Ineos could be moving from team sponsor to team owner with reports saying that the company is close to signing £700 million deal to buy the Mercedes Formula 1 team.
It was earlier this year that Ineos, which is the world’s largest chemical producer signed a five-year sponsorship deal with Mercedes, but at that time Ineos boss Jim Ratcliffe and Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff preferred to call it a ‘partnership’ and not a sponsorship in the deal that involved £110 million. Now all this seems like it was just a lead that Ineos was making in buying the Formula 1 team.
Ineos will be buying out 70% of the shares in the German Formula 1 team which is on the high road in winning the seventh consecutive Formula 1 championship.
“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.” Former F1 team boss Eddie Jordan said.
“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.” Jordan added.
“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.”
Rumours had been going around for months that Mercedes was considering letting go of its Formula 1 team as the rumors still claimed that the parent company, Daimler with its success in the F1 the company feels it has nothing more to achieve in Formula 1.
Mercedes has been denying the rumors and insisted it was sticking around. Before the beginning of the 2020 F1 season the team statement once read,” “our clear intention to continue competing in Formula 1 as a Mercedes-Benz works team in the years to come, and to do so with our managing partner, Toto Wolff.”
The team has also signed the 2021-2025 F1 Concorde Agreement but this does not guarantee the team will be running under current ownership.
