Mercedes buys 75.1% stake in Brawn GP

By on

After rumours had recently increased about a buyout of Brawn GP, Mercedes is now confirmed to have bought 75.1% of Brawn GP shares. The team will consequently be renamed to Mercedes GP and looks set to run world champion Jenson Button and Nico Rosberg in 2010.

At noon, Mercedes gave a press conference about the new deal. The German car manufacturer itself takes 45.1% of the shares, while minority stake holder in Mercedes itself, Aabar Investments owns 30% of the shares. The deal was financed by Mercedes' own sale of 40% stake in McLaren.

The McLaren Mercedes split, after 15 years of partnership was fuelled by McLaren's decision to start building its own supercar, the MP4-15C, a direct competitor to Mercedes' upcoming SLS model.

As their deal as only scheduled to end in 2011, Ron Dennis aimed to get the 40% stake back for no cost as an early termination of the contract. Recent involvement in the spy scandal however put McLaren in a difficult position to negotiate this deal, ending with a sell of around 200 million Euro. The team however will continue to get Mercedes engines until 2015, but loses development support and the 50-percent contribution to the driver's salary.

The new Mercedes GP team will likely be competitive right from the start as Brawn GP have already heavily developed their 2010 competitor.

See also: McLaren confirm Mercedes partnership change