Mercedes GP 2011

[dren]

They are intertwined dren.

You canny have AMG without mercedes.

Right, it was slightly sarcastic

As for Brabus, I think they are a 3rd party tuner but closely tied with Merceds, right? Sort of like Shelby and Ford.

[NewtonMeter]

I know how many would dearly like to put a positive spin on this, but you can never underestimate what is in a name change behind the scenes. The subtle switching of BMW and Williams around is one such example that hid a multitude of issues. It makes no sense for Mercedes to suddenly put AMG in the name when they sell, what, all of a handful of cars in a year? They supposedly got into Formula 1 to sell the Mercedes name. Diluting it all with three parts split between Mercedes, AMG and Petronas just sounds plain silly and will do all the good for AMG that the Jaguar name did for that team.

This is a staged renaming of the team. It's the first real outward sign of the beginning of the end.

Will you humour me say something positive about Mercedes? I'll even trade you. I'll say something negative and you say something positive.

[Morteza]

Will their logo look like something like this? I found it on Facebook

[Cocles]

If anything I'd say Mercedes AMG is a lot "closer" to F1 than Mercedes ever is/will be. Slightly off topic, but where does Brabus fit in the Mercedes/AMG family?

Yes, Brabus is a completely separate third party that likes to [s]ruin[/s] tinker with Mercedes cars. AMG, on the other hand, is Mercedes' own in-house tuning shop. I think Seg is a little misinformed and thinks AMG is like Brabus. Perhaps he's thinking of HWA? The "A" in HWA is the same "A" in AMG. They're separate from Mercedes, but are heavily involved in Merc's DTM program.

But yes, back to AMG. It'd *sort of* be like BMW having a works team and announcing, "Here at BMW, we always put an "M" badge on our fastest cars like the legendary BMW M5, and so we are changing our team name from 'BMW Racing' to 'BMW M Racing'." To say that BMW is distancing themselves from the team with that name is just silly. Note though that I said *sort of* since AMG is a much more robust organization within Mercedes, and not just a badge.

It's obviously mostly marketing, but Scarbs seems to believe that there will actually be some technology going back and forth. Either way, it's still cool for Mercedes fans and a smart move for the company.

[Cocles]

Will their logo look like something like this? I found it on Facebook

Yep, it's also up on their renamed official site:

http://www.mercedes-amg-f1.com/en/#/category/home/

[Richard]

The renaming of MHPE to "Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains" is more significant. It shows that Merc are trying to position the AMG brand with a reputation for high performance including KERS and ICE. That means they can sell high performance hybrid AMG cars with a clear link to F1.

Except you and I know that AMG's production line in Affalterbach has little to do with Ilmor in Brixworth.

Its all about building the AMG brand. I wonder if we'll see Force India and McLaren running AMG branded engines?

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Except you and I know that AMG's production line in Affalterbach has little to do with Ilmor in Brixworth.

Really? When was it last ilmor? 6 years ago?

It's a mercedes facility now.

[wunderkind]

I wonder if we'll see Force India and McLaren running AMG branded engines?

I can see there is a possibility that Force India might run AMG-branded engines. But not McLaren, there is no love lost between McLaren and AMG.

It has not been Ilmor for many years. Mercedes bought Paul Morgan's shares from his estate and also bought out Mario Ilien's shareholding when performance suffered, and Mario and some of his staff wanted to go do something else.

[xpensive]

An interesting detail here is that Ola Källenius, head om MHPE until June 2009, is since July 2010 "Chairman of Mercedes-AMG GmbH", whatever that means, suggesting that his tenure as CEO of Mercedes-Benz U.S. in Alabama was cut short 18 months ago?

After running MHPE for a number of years, it is likely that my countryman has a good understanding of F1, why the AMG engagement might indeed be worth a little more than a moniker?

[MIKEY_!]

This is another kick in the teeth to Mclaren. Mercedes dropped them and got AMG to build the SLS. This just takes it further, they are erasing the tie between Mercedes and Mclaren. Mclaren won't stand for buying an engine with AMG logos and FI won't be using AMG logos either while Mclaren still sell them gearboxes etc.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Spot on wunderkind.

If you look at why mercedes left McLaren the reasoning of the name change is clear.

McLaren and mercedes diverged from the road car sector. McLaren forged ahead with its own car, AMG provided the response in the SLS.
Different cars same Market.
So McLaren is represented in f1 and the production sector, but AMG was not. Now they are and it's a closer link than to the bread and butter merc models you can buy.

In time links will grow closer, and the factory may even provide more than just f1 cars... Possible gt cars etc could be in the Pipeline. I do wonder what this means for HWA, who run mercedes tin tops and are themselves very closely linked to AMG.

[FrukostScones]

This is another kick in the teeth to Mclaren. Mercedes dropped them and got AMG to build the SLS. This just takes it further, they are erasing the tie between Mercedes and Mclaren. Mclaren won't stand for buying an engine with AMG logos and FI won't be using AMG logos either while Mclaren still sell them gearboxes etc.

? It is more like McLaren wanted to do its own thing after they found out that they had different street car strategies, and Mercedes refused to supply engines for the P11 project. So Mclaren said well, than we develop our own one (together with suppliers).And the companies split apart.
On the technology side, in terms of flexibility and invention I rate McLaren much higher than Mercedes GP or AMG.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

@frukost

You are right that McLaren can build a sportscar that appeals to a small percentage better than mercedes. But mercedes can build a sports car better that appeals to a larger percentage.

Not only that, they can build diesels, hatchbacks, trucks, 4x4s, SUV's, family saloons, MPVs, city cars, luxo barges and one off specials.
All this requires tech McLaren can dream of.

So yes, maybe 5 percent of what McLaren have mercedes are envious of, and rightly so. It's bloody impressive stuff.
But in the real world mercedes would out do McLaren in a heartbeat if the Market requires it.

[ESPImperium]

If Mercedes are putting in AMG into their name, who is nexe, Sugar Free Red Bull Racing or Toro Rosso Cola??

Things could look very silly very quichly.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

If Mercedes are putting in AMG into their name, who is nexe, Sugar Free Red Bull Racing or Toro Rosso Cola??

Things could look very silly very quichly.

What is silly about mercedes putting it's racing arm on it's racing team?