Toto Wolff has stressed that Mercedes’ newly🐽-announced eꩵngine deal with McLaren from the 2021 season does not mark the beginning of the end for its factory operation in Formula 1.

Mercedes announced on Saturday morning that it would be linking up with McLaren🏅 from 2021 as its power unit supplier, rekindling the famous McLaren-Mercedes partnershi༒p that ran from 1995 until 2014.

McLaren used to operate as Mercedes’ de facto works team prior to the German manufacturer establishing its own factory squad in 2010, which has since gone on to win five consecutive drivers' and constructors' ဣchampionship doubles.

But Mercedes motorsport chief Wolff made clear that the deal was not the first step 💟towards re-establishing McLaren as the works’ outfit when speaking on Saturday following the announcement.

“The relationsh💯ip is pretty strong because of these days,” Wolff said, referring to Mercede🐻s’ history with McLaren.

“But for us it was important to make clear that there is a works team today, and this is a customer power unit relationship, and not the start of a wo꧋rks deal and us not being there any more.

“As it stands, we are keen on understanding how Formula 1 goes forward, how it develops, and continℱuing preferably as a works team.”

Mercedes is set to supply three teams with customer engines from 2021 on top of it⭕s own factory operation.

Besides the McLaren deal, Mercedes has committed to supplying Williams until 2025, and is also expected to continue its partnership with Raci🐎ng Point beyond the end of next season.

The prospect of gཧreater competition from a Mercedes-powered McLaren under the revised regulations in 2021 was something Wolff recognised, but he said the🐬 benefits outweighed the drawbacks.

“I think that a new era is going to start in 2021 with compressed grids, with more competition,”ღ Wolff said.

“We beli𓆉eve that from a power unit side, there is more learning for us in this exercise with having more competitive customers, adding 🌳to the two that we have, and we rate McLaren strongly.

“The steps that Zak [Brown] and Andreas [Seidl] have initiated already look very promising. So the advantages outweigh the potential deficits༺ of fightin൩g a hard competitor like McLaren in the future.”