Mercedes AMG F1 Team 2012

[Cam]

LOL. When you stand back and look at the whole, the problems are clear:
• retired driver, past his prime as lead developer - who can't keep on the road or away from other cars
• midweight driver, who apart from winning once in a Pirelli freak show, fails to punch above his weight at any occasion.
• obvious internal pressures on whether to continue or not - causing distractions and probably job hunting
• built a car around some internal tubing that doesn't perform to hopes (and weren't they grinning when they kept that)
• hasn't come up with any 'rule pushing' innovations since launch, not even so much as a hint of controversy.

Stop treating the drivers and teams like gods. They're simply not performing and they're not pushing any boundaries. Trying to run on past glories only compounds the failed efforts to find new solutions and new thinking.

[kris]

But this is not a true Mercedes team. It's still a British team with silver paint.

It's still BAR, that's the problem.

Pardon my ignorance but does it mean if it had stayed as Tyrell or Brawn GP, then there would have been no problems.

[mx_tifoso]

No, I believe it means that the problems will persist as long as it remains what it is, a rebranded Tyrell/Bar/Honda.

[kris]

No, I believe it means that the problems will persist as long as it remains what it is, a rebranded Tyrell/Bar/Honda.

I dont understand when one says "It's still a British team with silver paint. or It's still BAR, that's the problem."

The rebranding is now their history/lineage. Even if they win a race/WCC/WDC they will still continue to be a rebranded Tyrell/Bar/Honda/Brawn. So whats that go to do with the paint of the car or the color of the flag?

[raymondu999]

No, I believe it means that the problems will persist as long as it remains what it is, a rebranded Tyrell/Bar/Honda.

I dont understand when one says "It's still a British team with silver paint. or It's still BAR, that's the problem."

The rebranding is now their history/lineage. Even if they win a race/WCC/WDC they will still continue to be a rebranded Tyrell/Bar/Honda/Brawn. So whats that go to do with the paint of the car or the color of the flag?

What people are saying, basically, is that BAR was not a very good team, and right now, Mercedes is just the BAR team with new livery and different name, while all of the problematic issues had by BAR remain the same.

We're not talking about semantics in terms of it being rebranded - we're talking the core team still is the same problematic one of old.

[spadeflush]

Reshuffle at Brackley.Mercedes reportedly "scaling down".

John Owen to be technical director and Mike Elliot Head of Aero. No news abt Costa, Bell and Willis.

http://www.yallaf1.com/2012/07/31/merce ... ical-team/

[lillschumi]

Exciting, this team now have more managers then actually people who suppose to produce something (if the trio still there). Could it be that there is a s..t storm ongoing in the team. The trio came in and tried to change stuff but got massive negative response from leading key staff persons, there could be some kind of tug-of-war going on, and the BAR/Honda guys won.

I have been in companies that underperforms because restructuring was impossible due to the old culture was "in the walls" and could not accept change "we have always done it in this way...."

Also about the upgrades, i seem to remember that during the summerbreak wasn´t the agreement between all teams to close down the whole operation/factory and not do any substantial work?

[mkoscevic]

The first race back is at Spa, and I don't think the W03 is going to be well-suited for that circuit...

W03 isn't well suited to any track in the present F1 calendar because it's under-developed and by design not capable car for a strong tyre management in the long runs compared to rest of the 2012 grid. Like that isn't enough by itself, Mercedes is not doing a very good job at managing race operations either.

[sidmiester]

Reshuffle at Brackley.Mercedes reportedly "scaling down".

John Owen to be technical director and Mike Elliot Head of Aero. No news abt Costa, Bell and Willis.

http://www.yallaf1.com/2012/07/31/merce ... ical-team/

costa will remain probably as he is now, thats why no news no change... he is the head of chassis design. willis in R&D.

why John Owen??? as TD???

[spadeflush]

Reshuffle at Brackley.Mercedes reportedly "scaling down".

John Owen to be technical director and Mike Elliot Head of Aero. No news abt Costa, Bell and Willis.

http://www.yallaf1.com/2012/07/31/merce ... ical-team/

costa will remain probably as he is now, thats why no news no change... he is the head of chassis design. willis in R&D.

why John Owen??? as TD???

Wasn't Bell the TD? What role does he have now? Hopefully we ll know in the next few days. I think there are two ways in which we can perceive this reshuffling:
1: The ppl at Stuttgart are fed up of the failures and want results ASAP, they wont buy more lies from Brawn and co.
2: The talk of downscaling is no mere gossip.

One thing is for sure. As dieter zetsche had said in 2010, its all or nothing.

[marcush.]

Brawn out..Bell promoted to Team principal.Haug relegated to DTM .
John owen was TD for W02 ...so I think Bell has faith in him AND wants his own man in the Drawing office..where Costa and Willis are searching for ways to get the ship taken over...?
The mess created by Brawn is just ridiculous.
So X,Seg and basically all others flaming the team had a VERY clear perception what would happen or better what would NOT happen.
Brawn is not a good manager by the looks of things.Hehad it all in his hands and basically he made the biggest mistake right at the start:he should have sold of Brawn GP to Merc which was a brilliant deal and go to grow roses....We would not have
Schumacher now ..but that´s ok ...And Mercedes would announce in about 2 weeks that due to the development in the markets allrecources are needed to push Daimler forward and the one thing remaining would be High performance engines as a supplier of drivetrains....maybe history gets aligned in a few weeks...

[sidmiester]

Reshuffle at Brackley.Mercedes reportedly "scaling down".

John Owen to be technical director and Mike Elliot Head of Aero. No news abt Costa, Bell and Willis.

http://www.yallaf1.com/2012/07/31/merce ... ical-team/

costa will remain probably as he is now, thats why no news no change... he is the head of chassis design. willis in R&D.

why John Owen??? as TD???

Wasn't Bell the TD? What role does he have now? Hopefully we ll know in the next few days. I think there are two ways in which we can perceive this reshuffling:
1: The ppl at Stuttgart are fed up of the failures and want results ASAP, they wont buy more lies from Brawn and co.
2: The talk of downscaling is no mere gossip.
One thing is for sure. As dieter zetsche had said in 2010, its all or nothing.

wished, Bell is made Team Principal and get rid of Brawn.... brawn had 3 years... plus he earnt tons of money from team sales. he was given freedom as well.

obviously now its clear that brawn's way of organized operation in this team hasnt worked for past 3 years..... would love to see brawn out.

well someone needs to take responsibility.... i see brawn as the main man to take that blame here... hope if there is reshuffling indeed ...zetche gets rid of brawn...

dont see any reason why mercedes should keep him. he had his chances...

[sidmiester]

Brawn out..Bell promoted to Team principal.Haug relegated to DTM .
John owen was TD for W02 ...so I think Bell has faith in him AND wants his own man in the Drawing office..where Costa and Willis are searching for ways to get the ship taken over...?
The mess created by Brawn is just ridiculous.
So X,Seg and basically all others flaming the team had a VERY clear perception what would happen or better what would NOT happen.
Brawn is not a good manager by the looks of things.Hehad it all in his hands and basically he made the biggest mistake right at the start:he should have sold of Brawn GP to Merc which was a brilliant deal and go to grow roses....We would not have
Schumacher now ..but that´s ok ...And Mercedes would announce in about 2 weeks that due to the development in the markets allrecources are needed to push Daimler forward and the one thing remaining would be High performance engines as a supplier of drivetrains....maybe history gets aligned in a few weeks...

i agree. brawn has made a huge mess in the team. he was so convinced that he can make this team winning consistently even though his technical delegates ... had made fundamental error (long wheelbase/poor error/poor R&D) for 2 consecutive years.

i also think bell should take over with bell given freedom to employ who he wants and who he wants to get rid of. time has come to change the organisation from top.

but mercedes need to keep both costa/willis/elliot. they obviously havent have enough time to get hands on next year project.. they are probably atm busy with planning and design phase for next year w04.

still think .. owen should be fired...

[sidmiester]

team rightly needs change, and mercedes board probably had enough of it. but they shouldnt get rid of someone like bell willis costa who just arrived. needs to get rid of brawn and owen. but seems if owen is made TD it is indeed a wonder what happens to new recruits like willis or costa. or bell.

my concern is because costa and willis especially is probably has already started on planning and designing of w04 ... and whether removing them would have severe effect on next year project.

costa especially shouldnt be removed. im convinced of him that he will do better job, he just need a better chief designer/senior aerodynamicist with him in which elliot can handle that.

[Raptor22]

easer to promote him to a position where he can do less damage. Ifthey fire him and he turns up somehwere else he can takes ideas with him that are being conceptualissed for W04...........not that those ideas would be worth much going on past history