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By darwin dali
#343351
Hmm, I wonder if Mercedes are going to end up going the same way as Jaguar...


And get bought for $1 by Monster Energy Drinks? :P


So what would happen if a Red Bull and a Monster crashed? Would a new drink be invented?

The Red Monster Bull
Image
By LRW
#343464
Apparently Brawn is not budging (for now)....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/athletics/21183238

Ross Brawn says he is "planning" to stay as Mercedes team principal in the wake of the emergence of plans to restructure the team.

BBC Sport revealed on Tuesday that Mercedes wanted to bring in McLaren technical boss Paddy Lowe to run the team's sporting and technical aspects.

Brawn said he had "talked to Paddy; we know the situation. I'm planning on being here a very long time".

Asked if Mercedes were of the same mind, he said: "I hope so."

Brawn did not directly answer a question about how Lowe would fit into the Mercedes team should he decide to leave McLaren, who are understood to be offering him a higher salary in an attempt to persuade him to stay.

Brawn talked of Mercedes wanting him to make a "long-term commitment" but also related the situation to his time at Ferrari, when he built up the team so it could carry on winning after he left.

"I know the situation completely," Brawn, who masterminded Michael Schumacher's seven world titles at Benetton and Ferrari, said.

"Mercedes want a long-term commitment. And obviously with a lot of additions, I want to see how things go before I make a final long-term commitment.

"It's rather like my succession plan at Ferrari. When I decided I was going to stop at Ferrari, we built a succession plan and I am part of that. I've talked to Paddy, we know the situation. I'm planning on being here a very long time."

Lowe would be the fifth Mercedes employee who has been a technical director at another team, joining Brawn himself, Mercedes' technical director Paddy Lowe, and their two head designers Aldo Costa and Geoff Willis.

Mercedes have also announced this week that Austrian Toto Wolff has become the team's executive chairman, as well as Mercedes' head of motorsport. Wolff joins fellow Austrian Niki Lauda, who is non-executive chairman and was instrumental in persuading Lewis Hamilton to join.

But Brawn denied there was a problem with having too many senior people.

"I am the team principal," he said. "I am in charge of sporting, technical and racing matters.

"Toto is coming and there is another side of the business that quite frankly I don't want to get involved in - the commercial activities, with the support we need to give Daimler on a day-to-day basis and there's a lot of things Toto will be doing which are complimentary to what I will be doing.

But you have to have one reference. Everybody knows the only way a racing team will work is to have one reference, and I'm that reference."
Follow F1 on the BBC in 2013

Mercedes fell from competitiveness throughout 2012, but Brawn said he was optimistic about the team's prospects with Hamilton and Nico Rosberg this year.

"We are entering a really exciting period," he said.

"Obviously Lewis joining us was a massive catalyst for us all, a massive incentive, motivation. I'm seeing the maturity of the [technical] changes we made 12 months ago.

"This car has been project led by Aldo [Costa] and he's done a fantastic job and I'm really excited by that. Like any of us in life, if we are excited by what we are doing we carry on doing it."

He described 2012 as "painful" but added: "I believe we've made good progress over the winter.

"We believe the car is a lot stronger, the focus is going to make sure that development rate, which is always ferocious in Formula 1, we can maintain.

"So we're structuring the team to make sure we can maintain that - in what actually is going to be a very difficult year with [the extensive rule changes for] 2014 looming. Because 2014 is a massive change and we've got to be supporting 2014 as well as making sure of 2013."
Also related to this story
User avatar
By racechick
#343475
That sounds promising! I feel much better for reading that!
By CookinFlat6
#343478
Music to my ears, it makes sense

Why would RB leave when he just got given everything a TP could want? the fastest driver, many previous experienced TDs willing to work as prt of a highly skilled team. If the tea lady was a previous TD, wouldnt mean chaos, it would just mean that Merc are building a team with the most with extravagantly talented staff ever.
Why have a mechanic when you can afford a previous title winning TD to do the mechanics job?

Unlike McLaren who seem to have the opposite view which is, why hire the best staff when you can take rejects and pay them less
By Hammer278
#343481
It's damn good reading that. Mercedes retain the best of everything, Brawn in charge, another powerful figure coming in for Merc's commercial side, and a real asset in Lowe from McLaren. Things are looking up!

EDIT:

A bit of an add-on I found:

Brawn added that his main concern was that the speculation around his position would disrupt the team ahead of the start of the season.

"I think it's a bit disappointing that it's got into the media, because that's disturbing for the team. I want our guys focused completely on doing the best job they can for this coming season. It's a really exciting time here and Lewis is now spending some time here at the factory and there's a huge buzz about the place for the coming season.

"That's what we want to maintain and unfortunately those things are in the nature of the business, but they are distractions for people and I have to do the best that I can to make sure people don't get distracted."

__________________________________

Brawn knows how to keep a steady hand when things are shaking all around him. :drink:
Last edited by Hammer278 on 24 Jan 13, 18:14, edited 1 time in total.
By LRW
#343482
Music to my ears, it makes sense

Why would RB leave when he just got given everything a TP could want? the fastest driver, many previous experienced TDs willing to work as prt of a highly skilled team. If the tea lady was a previous TD, wouldnt mean chaos, it would just mean that Merc are building a team with the most with extravagantly talented staff ever.
Why have a mechanic when you can afford a previous title winning TD to do the mechanics job?

Unlike McLaren who seem to have the opposite view which is, why hire the best staff when you can take rejects and pay them less


To be honest, there could be many issues in having a TD from another team, doing a lower role at Merc. The main one thinking he could do that job much better than the current TD, and causing internal politics.
User avatar
By racechick
#343498
Brawn is ACE! I love Brawn. It would be a massive mistake if Mercedes got rid of him............In my humble opinion.
By CookinFlat6
#343501
Music to my ears, it makes sense

Why would RB leave when he just got given everything a TP could want? the fastest driver, many previous experienced TDs willing to work as prt of a highly skilled team. If the tea lady was a previous TD, wouldnt mean chaos, it would just mean that Merc are building a team with the most with extravagantly talented staff ever.
Why have a mechanic when you can afford a previous title winning TD to do the mechanics job?

Unlike McLaren who seem to have the opposite view which is, why hire the best staff when you can take rejects and pay them less


To be honest, there could be many issues in having a TD from another team, doing a lower role at Merc. The main one thinking he could do that job much better than the current TD, and causing internal politics.


Yes point taken, that would be possibly a preferable future problem than not having an experienced winning TD standard TD, or having to promote say, Sam Michael to TD role

Also I suspect that a TD who was riding high and then unemployed might just consider the pay cheque from Merc a good reason to calm the ego and maybe even work harder to try prove himself worthy of promotion

just saying....
By Hammer278
#343503
Maybe Wolff is coming to stop rubbish commercials like this:

[youtube]uPq7jVGPs3g[/youtube]

I mean like, pay a bit extra and get Scarlett Johansson or something, please. And make her actually WASH the damn car!
By LRW
#343504
Maybe Wolff is coming to stop rubbish commercials like this:

[youtube]uPq7jVGPs3g[/youtube]

I mean like, pay a bit extra and get Scarlett Johansson or something, please. And make her actually WASH the damn car!


Mmmmmm Scarlett :cloud9:
By What's Burning?
#343505

I mean like, pay a bit extra and get Scarlett Johansson; And make her actually WASH the damn car!

:yes:

And include a gratuitous shot of boobs pressed against the windshield por favor.
User avatar
By racechick
#343507
I'd settle for Lewis and Nico draped over the bonnet :P
By What's Burning?
#343508
I'd settle for Lewis and Nico draped over the bonnet :P

That's a separate commercial. You leave this one alone.

Mercedes should take a hint from FIAT. The best commercial in last year's Superbowl.
[youtube]siWVgAzhFC8[/youtube]
By CookinFlat6
#343514
Hmmn, so the designer at Ferrari of the cars that brought Michael all his WCs, is talentless because of a political falling out with the team?

nah, a real reject is a guy with absolutely no winning pedigree of any sort, sacked for being useless, then employed by a team and groomed for TP

I give you McLarens Sam Michael

:whip::whip::whip::whip::whip:
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