"We're here to win so we don't really need it," says Hamilton
Wednesday 9 September 2015 13:15, UK
Lewis Hamilton has told Sky Sports it would be a mistake if Mercedes supply Red Bull with engines.
Despite dire warnings from Red Bull's hierarchy that the team will leave the sport unless they have access to competitive engines, Hamilton fears Mercedes risk losing world titles if they bail out the former champions.
Red Bull are believed to have served Renault, their current engine suppliers, with a quit notice to terminate their partnership as early as this year while Mercedes' previous reluctance to consider becoming their erstwhile rival's power providers has significantly softened in recent weeks.
However, according to Hamilton, supplying Red Bull would be a mistake on Mercedes' behalf if they want to continue dominating the sport.
Asked by Sky Sports News HQ if it would be wise for Mercedes to power Red Bull, Hamilton replied: "I think if we're serious about winning world championships, probably not."
In addition to the marketing value of linking up with the Red Bull brand, supplying the Milton Keynes-based outfit would put an extra buffer between F1's reigning champions and Ferrari, their closest competition this year. But Hamilton is wary that supplying Red Bull would be an unnecessary sporting risk.
"Red Bull is a great team and it's like giving Ferrari our engine," said Hamilton. "We're here to win so we don't really need it. There's no financial benefit really in it, so I think we're good where we are."
While supplying Red Bull would be a risk to Mercedes, their exit from F1 would be a severe blow to the sport and to the credibility of the Silver Arrows' current domination.
Told about Hamilton's remarks by Sky Sports, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff didn't disagree with his driver's assessment – but said Mercedes couldn't let self-interest hold sway.
"From a team perspective you have to have a no-prisoners approach and look in an opportunistic approach," Wolff said. "But it's also a matter of what we can do to make F1 function."
Meanwhile, Hamilton, who arrived in the Monza paddock with a striking new look, says F1 risks "disaster" if Pirelli's recommendations for minimum tyre pressures are increased by five psi at Monza in response to the blowouts which marred the Belgian GP two weeks ago.
The world champion is predicting "more wear and less grip" if such revisions to pressures are made.
"I feel comfortable coming here and running what we had before. We had a very difficult corner in Eau Rouge, which takes a huge amount of G-force and puts pressure on the tyres, which I'm sure didn't help," he said.
"Here we don't have that, whilst we have the long straights. In terms of putting the pressures up, I don't personally think it's the right way, but they might not do it anyway.
"I don't think any of us have tried five psi more on these tyres because they're not designed to have five psi more. We work in a range and it's the optimum range so we'll be moving out of the optimum range of the tyre. That means we'll be using a different part of the tyre, which means there'll be more wear, less grip - it's going to be a disaster.
"So I hope they don't put five psi more, a couple is okay."
It remains to be seen whether Pirelli, who issue teams with recommended tyre pressure and camber limits at every grand prix, will continue to suggest the five psi increase following apparent pressure from teams on Thursday.
