Mercedes AMG F1

Based in: Brackley, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom Founded: 2009 (active since 2010) Website: http://www.mercedes-amg-f1.com/ Team Principal: Ross Brawn Vice-President Mercedes Motorsport: Norbert Haug (until end of 2012) Chief Executive Officer: Nick Fry (2009 - Mar 2013), Toto Wolff (since Apr 013) Head of Aerodynamics: Loic Bigois (until Jun 2012) Sporting Director: Ron Meadows Technical Director: Bob Bell (since 2011) Technology Director: Geoff Willis (since Oct 2011) Engineering Director: Aldo Costa (since Nov 2011) Technical Exec Director: Paddy Lowe (since Jun 2013) Chief designer John Owen (since 2010)

On 16 November 2009, Mercedes bought a majority stake of 75.1% in the championship winning Brawn GP team of Ross Brawn. The German car maker swiftly decided to rename the team to Mercedes GP, seeing it return as an entity of its own, after the Mercedes Benz team competed until 1956 and after Mercedes was in F1 together with McLaren.

The team is essentially the same as Brawn GP, with Ross Brawn being the team principal and Nick Fry the CEO since the team was still the Honda Racing F1 works team. The new German ownership meanwhile meant that German talent Nico Rosberg was contracted, and when Jenson Button decided to move to McLaren, the team lured Michael Schumacher away from Ferrari. The Scuderia had no car available and Schumacher was eager to make a racing comeback, especially when paired to Ross Brawn, an ever successful pairing.

Mercedes GP Petronas finished 2010 in fourth place in the Formula One Constructors’ Championship, overall a disappointing performance after the Brawn of 2009 blew everyone out of the water. The car's short wheelbase was pointed as one of the culprits, but yet again in 2011 the Mercedes GP W02 proved to have a similar short wheelbase, again failing to live up to its promise.

At the beginning of 2011, Bob Bell joined the team as technical director, mainly targeting the development of the 2012 car. He left Lotus Renault after becoming unhappy with the new management at Enstone. After then emerging with disappointing performances of the 2011 car, Brawn went on to find more technical members, and the team consequently signed Aldo Costa (who left Ferrari after being Technical Director there) and Geoffry Willis.

The 2011 campaign again turned out to be a disappointment, but with so many new people aboard, all eyes were already set on 2012. After renaming the team to Mercedes AMG F1, the new car also looked quick early in in the season, with Rosberg finally taking pole and victory at the Chinese GP of 2012. Michael Schumacher secured pole at the Monaco Grand Prix and a podium at the Spanish Grand Prix, but further victories were impossible in 2012. The team finished 5th in the constructors' standings.

In a further team restructuring, long term CEO Nick Fry stepped down after Toto Wolff bought part of the team to take up a similar position. At the same time, chairman Niki Lauda also acquired part of the team. Norbert Haug on the other hand left Mercedes after a 22 year long career at the car company.

The team also signed Lewis Hamilton, pushing Michael Schumacher into his second retirement from F1 racing. Along with Hamilton, the team found new motivation as its Mercedes AMG F1 W04 proved impressive in qualifying. Its appetite for tyres however made for some frustrating races for the team, notably at the Spanish Grand Prix, where the cars finished 6th and 12th after starting from the front row.

Halfway into 2013, Paddy Lowe joined the team, becoming the technical executive director, alongside Toto Wolff who becomes the executive director of business. Contrary to the rumours about Lowe's move however, Ross Brawn remains Team Principal.

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