Mercedes-Benz is set to take a shareholding in Brawn GP in addition to supplying the world championship-leading team with its engines, according to a report in the Daily Telegraph.
The increased involvement with Brawn would be in addition to Mercedes' long-standing partnership with McLaren, and its customer engine deals with Force India and potentially also Red Bull.
The newspaper reports that Mercedes pondered buying Brawn earlier in the year when the team was dominating Formula 1, but has now decided to buy an equity stake in the team instead.
Senior Brawn figures have recently indicated that the team – which at present boasts little obvious sponsorship and is set to lose current backer Virgin to the new Manor team – has secured ample funding for the next few seasons.
Ross Brawn's squad stunned Formula 1 at the start of the year when it rose from the ashes of the ailing Honda works operation and dominated the opening rounds of the championship.
Mercedes' help was crucial to the team's survival, as the German giant stepped in to provide engines at the last minute.
A spokesman for McLaren told itv.com/f1 that the Woking team was comfortable with partner Mercedes expanding its involvement in other teams.
"Mercedes-Benz's engine supply contract with McLaren is a very long-standing one – it's in its 15th consecutive year, in fact – and it will continue to run for many years to come," said the spokesman.
"However, we're supportive of our partner's plans regarding engine supply of other teams in Formula 1, and we were delighted earlier this year that a Mercedes-Benz engine supply deal was able to be done with Brawn, thereby saving that team from likely extinction.
"Force India, too, has blossomed as a result of its engine supply/engineering consultancy collaboration with Mercedes-Benz and McLaren – as Giancarlo Fisichella's impressive second place in the recent Belgian Grand Prix showed all too clearly.
"Both McLaren and Mercedes-Benz remain extremely satisfied with our Formula 1 collaboration, which has netted three drivers' world championships and one constructors' world championship as well as dozens of grand prix victories."
Mercedes-Benz's parent company Daimler is McLaren's largest shareholder, with a 40% stake in the team.
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