Ross Brawn has warned Mercedes against supplying more teams with engines in 2011.
The German manufacturer already supplies McLaren and Force India, as well as its own team, Mercedes GP.
Red Bull have openly made it clear that they would like to switch to Mercedes power, however the supply has been blocked, supposedly, by McLaren and Force India.
Brawn though, reckons Mercedes have reached a supply limit which he believes the company would be best to stick with.
“In my opinion, as constructors, we at Mercedes would need to think long and hard before adding another customer to our list,” Brawn told Autosprint magazine.
“I think we are on the limit as far as supplies are concerned. We must make sure there is always a Cosworth able to sell its engines, it’s not the duty of a car manufacturer.”
Red Bull currently use Renault engines which the team believe are down on power when compared to the Mercedes unit. However, it is also well-known that the Renault engine is more fuel efficient.
“As for the power, I don’t know. The truth is that there is no procedure that determines precisely the parameters. We would be fine with placing all the engines on the bench under the FIA’s supervision.
“But measuring the power is only a part of the problem. There’s the cooling, the driveability, the fuel consumption. And just recently the boss of Renault’s engine guys has said that their V8 may not be the most powerful, but it’s the best from many other aspects…”