Haug against customer cars

Mercedes motorsport chief Norbert Haug insists that the new version of the Concorde Agreement should continue to include a ban on the use of customer cars in F1.

Currently, teams are responsible for designing and building their own chassis and aren't able to simply buy a chassis 'off the shelve' from a rival outfit.

The issue of customer cars is one that has been discussed at length for some time, but as talks about the revised version of the Concorde Agreement continue, Haug said it was important that the rules stayed as they were for the food of the sport.

"Generally speaking, I think Formula 1 has a heritage and a history," he said during the latest FOTA Fans Forum. "I just do not think that a Lotus should be a McLaren or a HRT should be a Ferrari; this would be the case if you had customer cars. It was and is in discussion but we also need to respect the likes of, for example, the very successful Williams team and the independents in Formula 1 like Sauber.

"I just think they have the right to build their own car and I think they're quite interested in building their own car - this is a very, very important part of Formula 1."

Haug added that customer cars would also not necessarily be a cheaper option for smaller teams like Marussia and HRT - who are currently racing to prepare cars for the season ahead.

"At first glance you might think it is less money but, if you carefully go through it, it's not necessarily less money - it's not the ideal solution," he said. "If it was the ideal solution, I think everybody would have chosen that path already."