Mercedes AMG F1 Team 2012

[marcush.]

mep .. =D> =D> =D> =D>
I tried hard to get a senior role recently but it seems we need to create an audience comparable to RTL on sundays to be taken serious..
Lauda already announced to keep his rtl co-host occupation...wow he is the official voice of the company on TV then .This is certainly in Zetsches sense.. getting bashed by people he spends millions on..( i assume if he gets 1mill for the cap/year he will not work for DAI for anything less.)

[FoxHound]

@ marcush

So you have no concrete figures, and you have no verifiable evidence to back up what you are saying, and I make you laugh because I ask you questions?
Let me tell you, Mercedes have done good business getting Hamilton. They will be able to get the same amount of sponsorship as before if not more. By keeping Schumacher, a faded star, sponsors will have seen the light after 3 years. Meaning not as much cash.
If you are laughing because the team is spending more money upgrading facilities and hiring big names, why so? You are always on here saying how crap the car is. Do you want them to keep spending the same on the same staff? Because that is bloody stupid mate.

[mep]

No, I don’t feel the need to bash the team because they did not renew the contract with Schumacher. I believe it was Schumacher who didn’t want to drive there anymore and there are good reasons for it.

I feel the need to bash the team because they do ridiculous strategy calls, their car is dog slow and falls into pieces every second race. They don’t even see how bad they are when they talk about world championships, race wins etc.
The team is a shame for Mercedes and for German engineering especially their notorious lack of reliability.
That is the reason why they get bashed.

[ninogenio]

why should we hide our bias and not bash mercedes?!?

they had michael and our hopes up for the past 3 years. basically waisting our time as fans. failed promises. dumped msc when it suited them. we as schumachers fans deserved better.. he deserved better. why should they keep getting away with doing this too fans/drivers and all this is aplicable to the team they have a responsability in all of it.

they should have done msc and us the favor and signed hamy in 2010!

[OppositeLock]

No, I don’t feel the need to bash the team because they did not renew the contract with Schumacher. I believe it was Schumacher who didn’t want to drive there anymore and there are good reasons for it.

I feel the need to bash the team because they do ridiculous strategy calls, their car is dog slow and falls into pieces every second race. They don’t even see how bad they are when they talk about world championships, race wins etc.
The team is a shame for Mercedes and for German engineering especially their notorious lack of reliability.
That is the reason why they get bashed.

You nailed it, mep =D>

Schumachers' contract is going to expire and you are all obviously grieving.

The 5 stages of grief: Denial....Anger....Bargaining....Depression....Acceptance.

Feel free to believe Schumacher didn't want a new Mercedes contract If it makes you feel better. Blame the team if you want. They managed to give him a race winning car and a chance at victory. Schumacher failed.

Mercedes has been coddling Schumacher for long enough and excusing his poor results. I'm glad they made a strong move for the future. Mercedes sets the deadlines: not Schumacher.

[Ganxxta]

Feel free to believe Schumacher didn't want a new Mercedes contract If it makes you feel better.

Well, according to Brawn himself, Schumacher had the chance to sign the contract at the beginning of this year, so yes he didn't want to.

Blame the team if you want.

Easy target

They managed to give him a race winning car and a chance at victory. Schumacher failed.

Not true, when the car was "a race winning car", China/Monaco, both times his car/Team failed.
1st someone forgot to fix a tire, then in Monaco it was some engine/gearbox issue -.-

Other than these two races the car had never a chance to win a race.

[marcush.]

according to niki Lauda on RTL he was asked by Zetsche himself if he was prepared to do the job...and so he was hired by the boss himself.
He was in brackley once and already publicly voices that things have to be changed there ...raising competitivemness and at the same time containing cost...So the messiah was arrived and was welcomed with a warm handshake ...
I´m sure Lauda will not make many friends over there ...and with his style -pop in stirr the mud and leave -nothing but chaos will remain..Compare this with Todt entering scuderia ferrari.. 16h days all year the first to come the last to go he put in a unbelievable amount of time and effort ..now we are talking age ..Lauda already has suffered huge blows to his health ( had to receive a kidney not too long ago) I don´t think he is prepared or willing to put in that sort of effort.And where does this leave Ross and norby? Or even Fry ? fireworks ahead.I´m looking forward to the remaining mess.

[mep]

The hiring of Lauda is really interesting move. He got a position which did not exist before and which is above all the other chiefs. I can’t really see what he is going to do. The position he takes over is not really required because it did not exist in the years before and no other team is so head heavy as Mercedes. Lauda does not even have significant experience in such a role because he only did something like that for 1 year for the also struggling Jaguar team –with no success as. The good think of Lauda and what I appreciate of him is that he is smart and very honest and straight. But what will he be able to do with that disaster of a team he finds in Brackley? He can’t just walk in there and kick some arses to make them move. He will encounter significant resistance because he is not english, he is not an engineer, he does not have any academic title and no credit of doing such a job. I think this will limit his influence on the team to be a representative of the team to the media, mainly to RTL and ORF1. However, replacing the head is just another typical reaction of an automotive concern to solve the problems but it will not work in such a fast and competitive world such as F1. The next move will come in around 1 year which is the sale of the team.

This will not affect Niki. He will wipe his mouth, take the couple millions salary and walk away.

[Ral]

Below, I have bolded the bit that I think you are missing about Lauda's appointment:

A statement by Mercedes said that Lauda will "bring his extensive experience to the role of non-executive chairman of the team's board of directors, further reinforcing the strength in depth at Mercedes AMG Petronas."

In other words, he's a consultant. He will have no authority over anyone and I doubt he will be required at all the meetings they have (although may choose to and quite possibly will be welcomed to attend more than required). And I could see his consulting role quite possibly be limited to FIA and FOM and CVC/Ecclestone contact only, in light of his apparent recent success in getting a deal signed to effectively keep Mercedes in F1 and, judging by his appointment, on terms they aren't unhappy with.

In all, I think your concerns are a bit premature.

[mep]

I am not really concerned I just don’t think he is going to do much and your post confirms that.
People could say it is a waste of money but these things I don’t care about.

[Cocles]

Until someone actually posts a source, it should be acknowledged that this is treating speculation as fact. Marcush flat out says that these are only his own opinions, yet they're treated like quotes from autosport.com.

Lauda above Haug? Come on. Even at face value, that's just not true. So Lauda is in charge of the DTM team as well?

Lauda is a consultant for the F1 team and nothing more. Non-executive.

[FoxHound]

Until someone actually posts a source

You mean Schumacher fans need evidence to formulate opinions that are unbiased and level headed?
This thread is an example of fanatics favouring a driver and eschewing all concrete reports that have gone reported. I have said before I'm no fan of either team or driver, but I would still want to see them both do well.
In whichever undertaking.
I just hope whomever buys the Audi, slates the team, hates the team, burns effigies of brawn etc. appreciates, this is not Schumachers team, it's Mercedes. In my opinion, Schumacher has himself to blame for not commiting way back in march.

[Dragonfly]

Only a suicidal kind of a person or one with little professional and life experience would commit to naked promises.
Mercedes fired Schumacher? Well, the opposite is also true - he showed them the yellow and then the red card.
There's something fishy in the whole story. I very much respect Michael for keeping his mouth shut throughout his whole career, but sometimes I wish he was a bit more talkative.
We as the public see the trend Mercedes team in three years to actually make no advance and even slide back, imagine what a person inside the team can see. His hesitation was used to make him the scapegoat in order Brawn and Haug to save their own ar**s, delaying the inevitable and in the meantime pump up their bank accounts. There's no passion for success in that team.

[FoxHound]

Only a suicidal kind of a person or one with little professional and life experience would commit to naked promises.
Mercedes fired Schumacher? Well, the opposite is also true - he showed them the yellow and then the red card.
There's something fishy in the whole story. I very much respect Michael for keeping his mouth shut throughout his whole career, but sometimes I wish he was a bit more talkative.
We as the public see the trend Mercedes team in three years to actually make no advance and even slide back, imagine what a person inside the team can see. His hesitation was used to make him the scapegoat in order Brawn and Haug to save their own ar**s, delaying the inevitable and in the meantime pump up their bank accounts. There's no passion for success in that team.

So micheal was suicidal when he joined mercedes? Or did he lack life experience?
And if this team lacks passion to win, why did micheal stay for 3 year?
To "pump up his bank account"?

Your argument has so many holes in it, that it makes a sieve look positively water tight.

[marcush.]

Only a suicidal kind of a person or one with little professional and life experience would commit to naked promises.
Mercedes fired Schumacher? Well, the opposite is also true - he showed them the yellow and then the red card.
There's something fishy in the whole story. I very much respect Michael for keeping his mouth shut throughout his whole career, but sometimes I wish he was a bit more talkative.
We as the public see the trend Mercedes team in three years to actually make no advance and even slide back, imagine what a person inside the team can see. His hesitation was used to make him the scapegoat in order Brawn and Haug to save their own ar**s, delaying the inevitable and in the meantime pump up their bank accounts. There's no passion for success in that team.

So micheal was suicidal when he joined mercedes? Or did he lack life experience?
And if this team lacks passion to win, why did micheal stay for 3 year?
To "pump up his bank account"?

Your argument has so many holes in it, that it makes a sieve look positively water tight.

Compare this with Hamilton -who actually was teamed up with the guy who quickly left the ship after bagging those titles.They sure must have talked about the reasons why Jenson decided to go..He sure got insight what mclaren thought about MGPs efficiency in developing cars etcetc.

You conveniently ommit the important details ther:

Schumacher was convinced by:Daimler buying the whole lot - his whole career was supported and started with the help of Them.
He was approached by Brawn-a guy he has to trust as he was a key memeber of all his success in Formula 1 -at least he thought he was.
And he joined a team that just had bagged two championships .
He had no real internal knowledge of formula 1 at that time -having been out for some years