Mercedes AMG F1 Team 2012

[marcush.]

The Honda Tunnel was a 100% tunnel already when phased in 2006 -honda -Brawn -MGP just did not switch to building bigger modelsize for whatever reason before this year.
In 2006 clearly the idea was to be in a position to correlate the tunnels -they could use the same model for both their old (now HRT) and new tunnel....And potentially they had planned to build 100% model in 2006 as the next quantum leap but
that road was closed with the RRA restricting teams to 60% models.

Why it took them so long ? who knows -maybe they had to wait till HRT had enough money to purchase their 50% model hardware and ancilliaries ..

[diego1960]

Ι find it interesting X, that you think that the Merc pair will remain unchanged. I find it rather difficult for Hammy to remain a Macca driver much longer, especially after the Monza body language and Mercedes might be his only real option if Kimi remains in Lotus. Unless all of this is a gigantic act of negotiation/distraction by his management team who want him to remain at McLaren, but then the real question rises, is Hamilton such a good actor to portray so skillfully a disillusioned driver?

PS: Surely though, the Hutt must be in a position to understand that such money is not wisely spent on a driver of his character, or maybe he gets to keep his position if he manages to lure him? I'm not sure of Dr.Z's intentions to be honest, neither of us do...

[FoxHound]

I'm not so sure it was a money problem. Reading earlier posts it seems Mercedes have already spent a considerable sum upgrading the factory. And are HRT not "renting" the facility?

[marcush.]

Mercedes GP is a part of the Daimler conglomerat ,maybe a bit less under scrutenity than other subsidiaries but it still is consistantly under review.
Let´s assume most of the money spent is coming from the marketing pool and then take a look what retturn they get from running a team...Mclaren is winning ...MGP is nowhere .On top of it there are noises coming from Brackley the engine maybe at fault for the tyre issues-not very wise to let this even slip through in a moment of desperation.
The Hutt has already voiced his anger about that nonsense making it into the papers.

Also Brawn Fry and whoever had sold the entity to Daimler as a combo with a big sponsorship deal (Henkel? if i remember correctly)which was a fluke and already cost Dai to sort out if I´m not mistaken.
Apart from Petronas no hint of big sponsorshipdeals happening... in the context of having Schumacher it seems more than probable Dai would like to have the three pointed star prominently shining when success is coming...but this comes at a cost already ...the team may not pay for itself but needs cash input these days.

[FoxHound]

Okay so it needs cash in your view?

I would have thought McLaren to be needing the cash more than Mercedes. I read somewhere this morning while researching this, that Mercedes have in fact purchased the Aabar stake a few months ago. Middle eastern cash maybe plentiful, but these companies are feeling the pinch like everyone else. Maybe Aabar baulked at Mercedes expansion policy and it's accompanying price tag? McLaren will have to justify every penny to mumtalakat which was never the case under Mercedes. We also see the evidence of this in Hamilton not being offered the terms he has been accustomed.
Whereas Mercedes are rumoured to be offering him what he wants.
It's a web of intrigue but only guess work on my part.

[xpensive]

Ι find it interesting X, that you think that the Merc pair will remain unchanged. I find it rather difficult for Hammy to remain a Macca driver much longer, especially after the Monza body language and Mercedes might be his only real option if Kimi remains in Lotus. Unless all of this is a gigantic act of negotiation/distraction by his management team who want him to remain at McLaren, but then the real question rises, is Hamilton such a good actor to portray so skillfully a disillusioned driver?

PS: Surely though, the Hutt must be in a position to understand that such money is not wisely spent on a driver of his character, or maybe he gets to keep his position if he manages to lure him? I'm not sure of Dr.Z's intentions to be honest, neither of us do...

I'm sure that Hamilton's ego is desperate for an unchallenged number one position now when that stupid teamorder-rule is gone, he is probably envious of Alonso, Vettel and Kimi for not having to fight a Jenson Button every second weeekend.

But that doesn't mean that MGP or MSC is interested, in particular with his money demands. But Vettel, hell yeah, anytime at any cost, imagine the marketing value in Germany with him and MSC at MGP? Hamilton, naah, not so much so.

[elf341]

Brawn sold the team to Daimler under the promise that the team would be essentially self funded (sponsorship, constructor's points money, etc.), or perhaps needing only a very small top up now and then. In reality, I think Brawn may have gone to the board in 2010 with the problem that while they were roughly ticking over, they didn't have any money left over for personnel acquisition or serious investment, eventually I suppose the greenlight was given and much money flowed in to finance Bell, Costa, Willis, Elliot - which all must be at least a few million each a year.
And then a state of the simulator built, and then admissions such as moving to a carbon fibre gearbox only this year because it was viewed as too costly in the past. These are all indications that Merc have a lot of money to spend now. But whether you spend $25m on Hamilton or $7-10m on Schumacher? I know which one I'd choose. For the $15m left over you can probably make the car the 2 tenths or so faster that a good driver is meant to bring.

[elf341]

But Vettel, hell yeah, anytime at any cost, imagine the marketing value in Germany with him and MSC at MGP? Hamilton, naah, not so much so.

I agree. It's difficult not to see Vettel as another "schumacher" in the sense of focus and building/working with a team, remember that Vettel was the only driver who visited the Pirelli factory at the end of 2010 to talk about the new tyres. I can't see Hamilton doing something like that.

[diego1960]

Both Vettel and MSC visited the factory back then. 2 out of 24 drivers, their professionalism is amazing. I'm sure that if Merc started winning, Vettel would be interested to join. From what I've read over the previous years, the "dream" was to have Schumacher win a title by 2012 and then have Vettel replace him to keep the all-German driver line-up. Thanks to the BAR employees, Ross and many others involved however, it has become a nightmare. Just imagine though, a Vettel -Schumacher line-up, it would have crazy marketing value and the two of them would get along prefectly since they are friends out of track. I wish that was what the future holds for us, but unfortunately it seems that Vettel has a 2014 agreement with Ferrari, and MSC might be long gone by then.

[marcush.]

Ι find it interesting X, that you think that the Merc pair will remain unchanged. I find it rather difficult for Hammy to remain a Macca driver much longer, especially after the Monza body language and Mercedes might be his only real option if Kimi remains in Lotus. Unless all of this is a gigantic act of negotiation/distraction by his management team who want him to remain at McLaren, but then the real question rises, is Hamilton such a good actor to portray so skillfully a disillusioned driver?

PS: Surely though, the Hutt must be in a position to understand that such money is not wisely spent on a driver of his character, or maybe he gets to keep his position if he manages to lure him? I'm not sure of Dr.Z's intentions to be honest, neither of us do...

maybe Schumacher +Vettel at RB then?

[xpensive]

...
From what I've read over the previous years, the "dream" was to have Schumacher win a title by 2012 and then have Vettel replace him to keep the all-German driver line-up.
...

A tad off topic, but imagine that for some obscure reason Hamilton joins MGP for 2013 replacing MSC, while the latter resurfaces for 2014 at Red Bull, partnering Vettel, with Audi engines! Wouldn't that be a coup worthy of Mateschitz?

Seems we were thinking along the same lines marcush, not the first time however?

[SeijaKessen]

Ah but you gentlemen forget, Red Bull's contract with Renault Sport runs through 2016.

[SeijaKessen]

And I would say, any potential teams are likely waiting to see what actually happens with those 2014 engine regs that we hear so much about. I know you are on record as saying you do not believe we will have turbos come March 2014 xpensive. Perhaps there are others who are holding back on R&D for the same reason?

[bhall]

Ah but you gentlemen forget, Red Bull's contract with Renault Sport runs through 2016.

Mateshitz has enough money to get out of that contract. He certainly had enough to turn his contract with Ferrari inside out.

[xpensive]

Ah but you gentlemen forget, Red Bull's contract with Renault Sport runs through 2016.

But of course, contracts in Formula One are bullet-proof and none has been renegotiated since the great flood.