Mercedes AMG F1 Team 2012

[Gerhard Berger]

Was there a reason why the works team didn't enter F1 earlier? As i understand they were going to convert Sauber into the works team and have 2 from Schumacher/Frentzen/Wendlinger as their drivers. It never materialised though.

[NewtonMeter]

I'm sure there are some much more knowledgeable than I am, but IIRC merc attempted several times to buy McLaren, but Ron would have none of it.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

+1 WB

@X
I think you have to ask yourself, why would Daimler hire Haug to return Mercedes to Motorsport(F1)if he was only some fat bumbling journo?
The reality of his tenure is actually very good.

He is Mercedes man on the ground with clout to make decisions in real time. His decisions led to the McLaren-Mercedes partnership which was mutually beneficial to all parties.
I would hazard a guess that McLaren would not be where they are were it not for Haug and Mercedes cash/engines.

He is not Alfred Neubauer, but he is a unique character that gets the job done or has the vision to get people to get the job done!
Who can argue otherwise?

@Nm yes Mercedes attempted it but were blocked way back in 2005 I believe.

[Ferraripilot]

Was there a reason why the works team didn't enter F1 earlier? As i understand they were going to convert Sauber into the works team and have 2 from Schumacher/Frentzen/Wendlinger as their drivers. It never materialised though.

Good question. Anyone?

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Was there a reason why the works team didn't enter F1 earlier? As i understand they were going to convert Sauber into the works team and have 2 from Schumacher/Frentzen/Wendlinger as their drivers. It never materialised though.

Good question. Anyone?

The drive to return Mercedes to F1 found that Mercedes did not have the wherewithal to create its own F1 team. Not the money nor the skill-sets, which are very different from building S-Class saloons.

So the decision was made that it would join Sauber, with whom they enjoyed alot of success in Sportscars. Sauber had the capacity to build an F1 car, just not a winning car.
To get to this stage, would require a lot of Mercedes investment and resource so the decision was made that Merc would effectively jump ship to McLaren... a decision that still rancour's with Mr Sauber today, understandably.

The problem is, setting up a McLaren or Ferrari style operation from scratch is prohibitively expensive with no real guarantee of success. Haug knew that, and he was proven right by Toyota's dismall failure. Hence why partnership was the best possible way for Mercedes.

But, with the divergence in McLaren and Mercedes vision, spygate and then lie gate...Mercedes had to take another leap to be the master of its own destiny.

2 and a bit years on, and it looks the original vision way back in 1993 has come full circle.
Personally I think F1 is richer for Mercedes participation as a constructor. It adds gravitas to the championship, so I also hope that they can now sort their differences with Bernie on the issue of cash.
Rosberg's victory was probably one of the most popular I have seen in some time.

[WhiteBlue]

I'm sure there are some much more knowledgeable than I am, but IIRC merc attempted several times to buy McLaren, but Ron would have none of it.

Hubbert bought into McLaren with a view to cut some corners and have fast success. He did not listen to Ron who never wanted relinquish control to Mercedes and kept hoping he could swing a deal somehow. But Ron was clever enough to get Bahrain to buy into the company to replace Mercedes. They will have a lot less operative issues and be a relatively comfortable share holder except in times like these when they screw with the race for propaganda.

[Ferraripilot]

Sounds like Mercedes may have been looking for some time to throw their hat back in the ring but wanted to purchase a turnkey operation to build upon. Smart strategy as I can't fathom the expense of building a ground-up F1 team.

[marcush.]

Haug is THE connection to german media .He was working as senior editor in AMUS a long time ago and Mercedes when entering the motorsports scene realised they need a person to represent the three pointed star in public and make sure the media dance in their favour.Norby is well connected into this and he sure has not much more to do than lobbying and blowing the merc fanfare.
Internally his main job is making sure the money is rolling longterm and decisions like buying BrawnGP is actually happening .I think it was his main achievement in his career methinks -getting Mercedes silverarrows back on the grid with Michael schumacher...a true marketing bombshell -if the combo is delivering-sure Haug has had a lot of sleepless nights in the last 2 years-one could see how things are wearing him out.

[WhiteBlue]

Norby is well connected into this and he sure has not much more to do than lobbying and blowing the merc fanfare. Internally his main job is making sure the money is rolling longterm and decisions like buying BrawnGP is actually happening.

Anybody who has been a project or even program manager knows that those jobs are the most demanding. You always sit between several chairs and only your skills to balance many balls and egos can save the day. To manage the Mercedes motor sport program for such a long time with some nice DTM championships and finally getting a victorious F1 works team together surely is a fine achievement for the man. The podium in Shanghai was a just reward. As Lauda would say: I pull my cap.

[Lambeu]

Have you not seen the similarities in design between the W02 and W03? They are indeed familial, which tells me this(the W03) is a Bigois baby.

I agree. You can actually see his style throughout the years. Slick, simple but effective. For example the BGP001 is basically an FW28.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

[xpensive]

Norby is well connected into this and he sure has not much more to do than lobbying and blowing the merc fanfare. Internally his main job is making sure the money is rolling longterm and decisions like buying BrawnGP is actually happening.

Anybody who has been a project or even program manager knows that those jobs are the most demanding.

I beg to differ, my xperience from some 20 years of management is quite the opposite, such people always finds an xcuse for their failures, why I'm in total agreement with marcush, Haug's job-description has probably never been better defied than that.

[Cocles]

I beg to differ, my xperience from some 20 years of management is quite the opposite, such people always finds an xcuse for their failures...

Illogical and purely anecdotal, "The few who I know stink, therefore they ALL must stink!" Can we move on? We all know X thinks everyone in F1, right down to the receptionist back in England should have a doctorate in engineering. Frankly it all stinks of sour grapes to me. X I'm sorry a guy who doesn't even have a degree in engineering gets to be so much closer to F1 than you.

Ripping on Norbert Haug, right after the Mercedes works team just won their first race, has the same stink as those who claim Michael Schumacher could never drive.

Move along.

[elf341]

I think with Lambeu we might have a case of a Frenchmen wanting to attribute all the success to another Frenchmen (Bigois). Don't get me wrong, Bigois is a strong engineer. But some of the things Lambeu has mentioned, such as the SWB being enforced against Bigois' protestations seem completely unfounded! I have *never* read about this, and Lambeu hasn't provided any references to this piece of information. I think it is made up! And what is this about the Prost team (french) being awesome? I remember a different history to that!

Ross Brawn has repeatedly said that the SWB was adopted for aerodynamic reasons as they viewed it as the way to get the most from the new Single Diffuser regulations. So if Bigois was against such a vital aerodynamic decision, then he's not really the aero director then, is he?

I think rather, Bigois has a lot of great ideas, but some of his ideas had flaws. The introduction of two other aero experts - Bell and Willis - allowed some of those flaws to be realised and corrected. It is often the very simple, subtle flaws that can ruin what is essentially a great concept.

[WhiteBlue]

F1 team Mercedes to lose Aabar ownership

Mercedes GP could be set to lose a major shareholder.

Citing informed sources, the German ‘Manager Magazin’ reports that the Abu Dhabi investment vehicle Aabar is in talks to end its involvement with the Brackley based team as well as Mercedes’ parent Daimler. Daimler and Aabar did not immediately comment.

Aabar owns 40 per cent of Mercedes GP, but recently watered-down its Daimler involvement from 9 to just 3 per cent.

That isn't good news.