Revealed: Mercedes already active on Formula E plans

Neil Martin and Steve Clark, engineering leads from Mercedes-affiliated HWA, were in Marrakesh meeting with Formula E officials and studying existing teams' operational programmes.

Although the pair would not comment on their mission in Marrakesh, Motorsport.com believes that they were carrying out operational and strategic assessment of elements of racing in Formula E.

Motorsport.com understands that they spent the majority of their time in and around the Indian squad Mahindra's garage.

Current F1 champion Mercedes announced in September that it had signed an option to join Formula E in 2018 when its technical roadmap matures to embrace a one car/one driver format.

"Electrification will play a major role in the future of the automotive industry," said Toto Wolff, head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport in September. “This will make Formula E very relevant in the future."

Clark has had a colourful F1 career, initially working for Mercedes as a technical advisor before moving to Ferrari in 2012, where he initially took a post managing Ferrari’s engineering team.

This was subsequently changed to a non-F1 project role. After the matter of Clark’s demotion was taken to an employment court, Clark returned to Mercedes.

Like Clark, Martin has experience of working at Mercedes and Ferrari, where he was Head of Strategy from 2011 to 2015. He also held a similar post at Red Bull Racing prior to that after starting his career with a 10-year stint at McLaren.

Further elements of the Mercedes F1 team are expected to attend further races in season three of Formula E.