Next year is set to be a painful time for Mercedes and all teams as they’ll have to cut staff due to the budget cap that will arrive in Formula 1. While some are expected to move to Mercedes’ Formula E project, Toto Wolff has suggested more jobs could be saved by getting involved in a space project, according to thisismoney.co.uk.  

‘’Space is a very early-stage discussion,’’ admits Wolff. ‘’We are not going to build a rocket but we might provide services to somebody who wants to build a rocket.'’ 

‘’We see ourselves as a high-performance engineering boutique. What we do is enhance performance on land, sea, air – and possibly space.’’ 

'The cost cap means there will be redundancies but we are giving it our utmost efforts to find interesting opportunities for the people we won't be able to accommodate.'  

Wolff said they’re still at the 'decision-making stage' as ‘’the restructuring needs to be terminated by the end of June 2021. This is when these people need to be off the F1 payroll.’’ 

The season begins at the Austrian Grand Prix next Sunday and the Mercedes team principal is expecting 15 races to take place in the 2020 season. As long as 12 or more races are held, no additional funding will be required from Daimler, Mercedes’ parent company.  

‘’I think we are going to get to 15 [races]. We will still be in an OK place if we get a dozen or more races in so I don't expect that our operational planning will take a massive hit.’’ 

Despite no races since last December, the Austrian said ''discussions that we are having with potential sponsors are at a high,'' and they've not a lost any sponsors either during the pandemic.

Wolff added that his intention is to stay with Mercedes beyond 2020. His contract is due to run out at the end of the year.