Wolff denies “made up” Ineos-Mercedes F1 takeover story

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has rejected a report claiming the Formula 1 team is about to be sold to its partner Ineos.

In an interview with the Mail on Sunday, former grand prix boss Eddie Jordan fuelled speculation about a sale of the Mercedes team to sponsor Ineos, claiming that the petrochemicals manufacturer’s chief Sir Jim Ratcliffe was lining up a takeover which would see Wolff no longer be in charge of the F1 team.

But following the Tuscan Grand Prix, Wolff addressed the story as “just speculation” as he moved to firmly deny the report.

“People pick up bits and pieces and construct the story around it,” Wolff said. “We have a magnificent relationship with Ineos.

“We work together on several high-tech projects around the America’s Cup and the cycling team. And the partnership is very complementary.

“We have the same ambitions with our sports teams. And that’s why Ineos is a partner of ours. Beyond that, everything is just speculation.

“Daimler has no intent in giving up the team, and Ineos has no interest in buying a majority of the team and calling it like this and I have no reason to depart from my shareholding.

“So plenty of things that are made up.”

Despite Mercedes’ commitment to F1’s new Concorde Agreement that will see the team remain in the sport, neither Wolff nor Lewis Hamilton are yet to sign new contracts.

Wolff stressed the delay had nothing to do with the rumoured uncertainty over the team and explained that Mercedes is simply planning to use the larger gaps in the 2020 F1 calendar to progress talks with Hamilton over renewing his deal.

“The future of the team is absolutely clear: It’s the Mercedes Petronas AMG team and nothing is going to change that,” he said.

“In terms of Lewis, the wider discussions why we never find the time for the discussions between Lewis and myself is because we simply had three triple-headers one after the other and now it’s just about sitting down and hammering it out.”