Mercedes rubbishes "baseless" claims about F1 exit

Jordan, now a television pundit, told German media this week that it would make sense for Mercedes to return to being just an engine supplier after having proved it can dominate the sport as a team.

"Perhaps Mercedes will pull out of Formula 1 after the 2018 season," he was quoted as saying by German newspaper TZ.

"I think if they were to fight for both world championship titles in 2017 and 2018 their board will decide to sell the team and to remain in F1 only as an engine supplier. I would do the same.

"Mercedes has proved to be able to win everything. But from now on things can only get worse. It would be better to save money and to return to their core F1 business: to develop high performance engines and to provide them [to customer teams].

"Let's put it this way: I had a lengthy talk with [Daimler boss] Dr. Zetsche in Monaco. I told him about my ideas and thoughts and he didn't leave the impression these were wrong. But he obviously didn't go into detail."

However, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff hit out at Jordan's claims, labelling them as "baseless", and insisting the team has deal to stay in Formula 1 until the end of 2020.

"Monaco is a place where people like to party and it seems like somebody did a bit too much of that," Wolff said in a statement.

"The reports are completely baseless and reflect nothing more than the mischievous speculation of one individual.

"Mercedes has firm contracts for its participation in Formula 1 until the end of 2020 - and is currently in discussions about the next competitive cycle with the sport's new owners."

Additional reporting by Stefan Elhen