F1 Brawn, Dennis and McLaren; Rumours doing the rounds....

[PanterroR]

Mere days after he admitted that becoming Ferrari's team boss would be considered 'an option', Ross Brawn is being linked with a possible switch to the McLaren team.

The rumour has emerged in the German publication Sport Bild, which claims that the Mercedes-powered camp might be on the lookout for a successor for Ron Dennis.

Mercedes' parent company DaimlerChrysler is reportedly looking to buy the rest of Dennis' personal stake in Woking based McLaren, after the Briton sold half to a Bahrain company.

It has been suggested that Dennis, who is approaching his sixtieth birthday, might shift his allegiance to Prodrive as the likelihood increases that David Richards' new entrant will use McLaren cars and a Mercedes engine in 2008.

Sport Bild added that Dennis may be negotiating with Richards to buy up to 70 per cent of the Prodrive Grand Prix team.

Brawn, 52, is this year taking a sabbatical, after following Michael Schumacher from Benetton to Ferrari in 1996 and serving as Technical Director ever since.

Source: F1-Live.com

 

[Monster]

I really really doubt Ross Brawn will switch over to Mclaren, as if Jean Todt would let him. I am sure Ross will find it an interesting enough job to maintain Ferrari's recent success without going to Mclaren to look for something different.

 

[PanterroR]

I agree with you...Rumors!

 

[Imhotep Evil]

Agreed, but then again ... Brawn never wanted go go to Ferrari in the first place either. It was M. Schumacher who convinced him to switch from Benetton Renault to Ferrari.


Who knows, Flavio might want him back too ?!

 

[Monster]

Who knows, Flavio might want him back too ?!

Flavio probably do, but Renault has Bob Bell and Pat Symonds already, but with Fizzi and rookie Heikki as their 2 drivers, i am sure Flavio can do with more help.

 

[Imhotep Evil]

Flavio probably do, but Renault has Bob Bell and Pat Symonds already, but with Fizzi and rookie Heikki as their 2 drivers, i am sure Flavio can do with more help.

Bob Bell is chassi engineer, he replaced Rory Byrne (when he also left for Ferrari), while Simonds is chief engineer and worked well with Brawn in the pre Ferrari (defection) years.
Brawn is a good engineer and the best strategist, so no overlapping.

 

[Monster]

Bob Bell is chassi engineer, he replaced Rory Byrne (when he also left for Ferrari), while Simonds is chief engineer and worked well with Brawn in the pre Ferrari (defection) years.
Brawn is a good engineer and the best strategist, so no overlapping.

Thanks for the correction. So who is the strategist in Renault?

 

[Imhotep Evil]

Well, yeah Simonds is the strategist also, along with technical director/chief engineer, but he's (much) more of an engineer than anything else, while Brawn is a better, actually the best, strategist. Moreover, Pat Symonds has a reduced role at race weekends, from now, so another bright person would help.

Anyway, who ever gets Brawn will get an asset, that's for sure.
As for Renault, the driver will most likely be their main weakness.

 

[Monster]

Well, yeah Simonds is the strategist also, along with technical director/chief engineer, but he's (much) more of an engineer than anything else, while Brawn is a better, actually the best, strategist. Moreover, Pat Symonds has a reduced role at race weekends, from now, so another bright person would help.

Anyway, who ever gets Brawn will get an asset, that's for sure.
As for Renault, the driver will most likely be their main weakness.

Honda is ranking Renault the 5th fastest team right now judging by the long distance test run times, i think it has more to do with the drivers than the actual car.

 

[Imhotep Evil]

Honda is ranking Renault the 5th fastest team right now judging by the long distance test run times, i think it has more to do with the drivers than the actual car.

Me too. While the Renaults of recent years were fast cars, extracting performance from them wasn't easy for the drivers.

Fisi always complayed about understeer, while Alonso used a very agresive steer lock a la Rindt/Fitipaldi combined with an early curve entering a la Jim Clark.
But wereas Rindt and Fitipaldi would use this agresive steering maneuvre to force induce oversteer, Alonso used it to turn severe understeer into mild(er) understeer (as well as for warming brakes and tyres).

 

[NarutoRamen]

I also highly doubt that Ross Brawn will choose to go over to the McLaren camp. But I do agree that Ron Dennis needs to be replaced.