It was welcome, if not exactly surprising news that Mercedes-Benz - the 40 per cent shareholders in
McLaren, in addition to being engine supplier to their Formula 1 team, weighed in energetically by expressing total support for the British team after they were fined $100 million by the
FIA World Motor Sport Council and deprived of their constructors' championship points.
Norbert Haug, the Mercedes motorsport vice president, has made it absolutely clear that his company stands behind
Formula 1, as they did before the uncomfortable verdict was delivered.
"Of course we do," Haug insisted. "This is not up for discussion. We also stand by our partner McLaren - and we refrain from putting the blame on anybody."
Asked if he therefore had no worries about a possible Mercedes withdrawal from
F1, he replied: "No worries at all. And I don't see any sign of the image problems some people say we are supposed to have. On the contrary, we get a lot of support and encouragement from outside.”
Haug's comments followed on from a formal statement from Mercedes expressing their disappointment that the FIA did not accept an invitation to check the specification of their MP4-22 challenger when the controversy broke out.
“Our partner McLaren repeatedly suggested to FIA that our F1 car should be examined and checked against the competitor's documents,” ran the communiqué. "However, [the] FIA has not made use of this offer to this day.
“No evidence of any culpable action has been submitted or made known to McLaren to date, and McLaren states that the team has not been involved in any culpable action whatsoever.”
