F1 Mercedes set to buy into Brawn GP

[Deleted member 25]

Brawn GP's Formula 1 future is poised for a major boost, with Mercedes-Benz close to a deal to take equity in the team. With the world championship leaders already having secured sponsorship funding for the next few years, as revealed by AUTOSPORT last month, the team's outlook now looks even better following discussions with the German car manufacturer.
Reports first emerged about the plans this morning in The Daily Telegraph, and sources have confirmed to AUTOSPORT that talks are at an advanced stage for the car company to take a shareholding in the team.
It comes on the back of Mercedes-Benz's increased profile as a customer engine supplier over the past season - with the team set to provide power-units to McLaren, Force India, Brawn and, perhaps, Red Bull Racing in 2010.
The move is not, however, an attempt by Mercedes-Benz to move away from its long-standing commitment to partner McLaren - and it is instead believed to be part of the car manufacturer's attempt to increase its presence in F1.
A McLaren spokesman told AUTOSPORT that the team had no qualms about Mercedes-Benz's plans for expanding its involvement with its rivals in the sport.
"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.
"As ever, we'll be aiming to add to that win tally together at this weekend's Italian Grand Prix - although we never under-estimate our opposition and the competition will undoubtedly be tough."
Mercedes-Benz itself denied that the plan was for a full-blown buyout of Brawn, but did not rule out an equity-type deal.
"It's our policy not to comment on rumours and we want to point out that we have longstanding contracts with McLaren," a spokesperson for the company told The Daily Telegraph.
Mercedes-Benz is poised to confirm its engine plans for 2010 at the Italian Grand Prix, although there is fresh uncertainty now surrounding whether or not Red Bull Racing will make the switch from Renault to Mercedes-Benz.
Although the deal had appeared to be all but done in recent weeks, sources suggest that the contract has not yet been signed - and it is not impossible that the team could actually stick with its current partner for another year.
Williams is looking at changing its engine supply deal for next year, having asked Toyota to be released from its contract, and had been expected to switch to Renault. However, there remains a chance the Grove-based outfit could be in the running for a Mercedes-Benz deal if Red Bull Racing opts not to take it.

Best engine, best kers, owning two of the best teams and soon powering 4 of them, Mercedes is foucking legendary, welcome to Formula Mercedes.

 

[Mr Robert]

welcome to Formula Mercedes.

That is a not too far fetched statement...

 

[LaArtist]

MB Rule F1

 

[Gullwing]

welcome to Formula Mercedes.

Atleast Ferrari wont win all the rulings anymore

 

[Deleted member 25]

Nico Rosberg will switch to Brawn Mercedes next season if reports from Blick prove accurate.

In an article by veteran journalist Roger Benoit, it is claimed that Mercedes will allow its contract with McLaren to lapse at the end of 2011, and by then the German manufacturer will own 75% of Brawn GP.

Blick reports that the Brawn buyout is in conjunction with Arab partners, and the Brackley-built cars feature prominent Mercedes branding next year.

The publication also claims that Rosberg is in fact not heading to McLaren - the British team that is currently 40% owned by Mercedes - but to Brawn, despite chief executive Nick Fry saying recently he was happy to keep Rubens Barrichello alongside Jenson Button.
Click Here


Rosberg said coyly last week that although still with multiple options for next year, he had now at least honed in on one in particular.

"Nico is an option," Mercedes' motorsport vice president Norbert Haug said on Tuesday. "He is a candidate."

The signs are growing that McLaren and Mercedes-Benz are headed for different futures in Formula One.

The companies had already parted in terms of their joint road sports car programmes, and reports have intensified throughout this week that a similar split is looming in terms of their 15-year F1 collaboration.

On Wednesday, Auto Motor und Sport claimed that McLaren is getting in the way of Mercedes' plans for next season by currently vetoing the intended engine supply deal with Red Bull Racing.

The tension on this front is almost certainly also linked with yet another team, as both the German language Blick and Auto Motor und Sport publications report that Brackley-based Brawn GP is set to be 75% owned by Mercedes by 2012.

McLaren has a contract for exclusive works rights until the end of 2011, so until Mercedes can buy Brawn itself, the Daimler AG shareholder AABAR of Abu Dhabi could hold the stake, Auto Motor und Sport said on Thursday.


"If we wanted to change anything with our Formula One commitment then we could certainly speak with Abu Dhabi," Mercedes parent Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche is quoted as saying.

Auto Motor und Sport said contracts with Brawn GP are to be signed shortly, with a deal to include a silver livery from 2010 and the Mercedes logo on the engine cover.

Brawn's new title sponsor is said to be a German company, and 24-year-old German Nico Rosberg is the favourite to become Jenson Button's 2010 team-mate, the report added.

Formula 1 : F1 Live, with F1-Live.com

 

[Wunderkind]

I think Mercedes has finally come to the realisation that they will never be in a position to call the shots with McLaren and also the FIA will have their barrels levelled at McLaren as long as Mosley is around. Yes, Max will remain in the FIA Senate once he vacates his position as the FIA president.

I think a true Mercedes F1 team will be looked upon much more kindly by the FIA. The opportunity to acquire a championship-contending team (Brawn) has also presented itself. Mercedes will be able to control its destiny and win as Mercedes-Benz, not McLaren-Mercedes.

It is definitely better for Mercedes to become an engine supplier to McLaren only. McLaren has no one else to turn to for engines for the forseeable future. BMW and Honda are out of F1 for the next decade. The only realistic sources for engine supply may be Toyota, maybe Renault (if they don't leave F1). Unless McLaren is willing to run the proposed no-frills FIA-Cosworth engine for 2010.

But the Mercedes engine is, by most accounts, the best available. I can't see the McLarens dumping the Mercedes engine anytime soon.

 

[Deleted member 25]

You have made very valid points Wunderkind, but on the other hand one must not forget that Mercedes has with Macca the only team that is capable to stand against Ferrari as far as prestige and specialy capability go, one must not forget that if Brawn is where they are now it's only because of the unreal amount of money that has been spent on the car, a team is the sum of its individuals rather than facilities, and in this matter brawn is very far from the Macca standards and even RBR wich did a terrific job with much less money. Yet i can see that with Mercedes money, the future potential of this team would be big, i would have only hoped to see a true german based Mercedes F1 team, that would have looked uber cool.

 

[Wunderkind]

You have made very valid points Wunderkind, but on the other hand one must not forget that Mercedes has with Macca the only team that is capable to stand against Ferrari as far as prestige and specialy capability go, one must not forget that if Brawn is where they are now it's only because of the unreal amount of money that has been spent on the car, a team is the sum of its individuals rather than facilities, and in this matter brawn is very far from the Macca standards and even RBR wich did a terrific job with much less money. Yet i can see that with Mercedes money, the future potential of this team would be big, i would have only hoped to see a true german based Mercedes F1 team, that would have looked uber cool.

Honda paid for Brawn's success this year and the money from Mercedes Benz will ensure the continued success of the team. Mercedes is really buying Ross Brawn in this deal. I hope Ross Brawn will keep a minority stake in the team to ensure he stays with the team.

 

[bmer]

Yeah, it seems that Mercedes has abandoned its plan to get full ownership of McLaren.
Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company, Ron Dennis and TAG Group Holdings (Mansour Ojjeh) probably haven't been receptive to Mercedes' proposals and aren't planning to give up their shares.

 

[Gullwing]

Yeah, it seems that Mercedes has abandoned its plan to get full ownership of McLaren.
Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company, Ron Dennis and TAG Group Holdings (Mansour Ojjeh) probably haven't been receptive to Mercedes' proposals and aren't planning to give up their shares.

I think Mercedes gave up several years ago, when Bahrain bought into McLaren.

 

[cawimmer430]

Who are they buying? A winning team.

 

[Deleted member 25]

Now it's confirmed

Mercedes-Benz has no plans to end its relationship with the McLaren Formula 1 team because of its planned buy-out of Brawn GP, but the German car manufacturer has said that its partnership with the Woking-based outfit will change.

The Stuttgart-based car maker has agreed a three-year plan to buy into the Brawn GP team, although a final contract has not yet been signed.

The deal has cast doubts about the future of the McLaren and Mercedes relationship, but Daimler boss Dieter Zetsche said that his company was not planning to walk away from the team once their exclusive partnership deal ends after 2011.

"Ending the relationship is not an option but we may have a different relationship," he told AUTOSPORT's sister website autocar.co.uk.

Zetsche also admitted that the future of their relationship would depend on where F1's costs headed over the next few years.

"We [Mercedes] want to see significantly lower budgets in F1 and the changing of regulations," said Zetsche.

The move appears to leave McLaren choosing whether it wants to become just a Mercedes-Benz customer team from 2012, or go and seek a partnership with another manufacturer.

Zetsche revealed that part of the motivation for the future tie-up with Brawn was fuelled by a row with McLaren about developing its own supercar.

"For a long period we had a lack of alignment on road cars, but we have now found a clear solution and we won't participate," he said on the same day that Mercedes-Benz unveiled its own SLS supercar.

* This week's AUTOSPORT carries a full analysis of why Mercedes-Benz is linking up with Brawn, and what the deal means for McLaren's future.