F3: Mercedes welcome VW challenge

[Plex]

Mercedes-Benz believe that Volkswagen's return to Formula Three is good for the category which they have dominated in recent years.

Volkswagen's engine scored points on its debut at the Nurburgring last weekend, and despite its speed trap figures being a couple of kilometres per hour down on the Mercedes, the engine impressed many people in the paddock.

While Volkswagen's motorsport director Kris Nissen has said that they want to power six cars next year, Mercedes have said that they have no objection to some teams switching engines.

"We have too many teams at the moment," Mercedes-Benz motorsport boss Norbert Haug told autosport.com. "It's under control, but we are just stretched out a little bit.

"We have no problem if some teams switch, it's an open market, so we will see. We like the competition."

While some teams in the midfield in the F3 Euro Series are likely to switch engines, the top teams - ASM, Mucke Motorsport, and Manor Motorsport - all have close ties with Mercedes which would make a swap very unlikely.

Autosport