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Mercedes reveals terms of possible Red Bull F1 engine supply deal

Toto Wolff has revealed Mercedes sought two key conditions from Red Bull during talks about a Formula 1 engine supply deal that took place in July

Bernie Ecclestone said over the US Grand Prix weekend Red Bull started to cut its ties to current supplier Renault over the summer .

That was linked to a meeting that took place involving Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, Mercedes motorsport boss Wolff, its non-executive chairman Niki Lauda, and F1 supremo Ecclestone.

However, Mercedes claims Red Bull never got back in contact once it specified its required terms to enter an agreement for 2016.

"The first was we needed carte blanche from Renault as they are an industrial partner of Mercedes, and we would never do anything against them," said Wolff.

"Unless Renault gave us the go ahead we couldn't move. It would be in breach of contract, and there is a much bigger picture involving Renault and Mercedes than Formula 1, such as the joint factories in Mexico.

"The other thing we said is if we supply Red Bull with an engine in Formula 1 there is a possibility of diluting the message around our own success because they could be very successful with our engine.

"That would be fair and square, but in order to accept that we would need to know what kind of marketing activities we could deploy on a worldwide scale with each other.

"If we were being damaged on the F1 side, how much could we then benefit on the global side? Can we do a car scheme, joint events, joint platforms? Please come up with the person we can talk to.

"As you know, in the end, nothing happened."

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