FoxHound wrote:@ Gato Azul
With Haug, it's logical that there would be some sort of repercussions as regard his position. But the fact remains he is not responsible for the performance fo the team. He saw the oppurtunity to bring back Mercedes in an official works team capacity, and given his track record and connections, Zetsche bought into Haug's vision.
...........
That's all quite possible, and we will perhaps never know.
We can trade opinions on this, and I'm sure we will have as many as we have members on this BB.
It's quite common, in situations like this, that someone has to assume responsibility and take the fall if needed, that just
comes with the territory (the job itself).
What happens more often then not, is that people lose their objectivity in this situations, especially if they had a good run/track record of success before. It's tempting to think, that you have the "midas touch" and can't do wrong.
What happened with MGP in itself is maybe not a "train wreck", but that will depend on the pov and on the expectations one
has. I think, Haug was a bit "sloppy" in his risk assessment and did not do a realistic scenario planing.
He underestimated the possible down side, and did not really had a Plan B or a exit strategy. But this is just my opinion,
and I'm happy for others to have their own.
I'm sure he had good intentions, and that his plan made a lot of sense on paper, but you what they say: "The road to hell is
paved with good intentions". I'm sure he had it all mapped out, Mercedes winning (at least races) with MSC, the lost son coming home, and we go full circle. That would have been the capstone on his career, but it was not meant to be.
Can you blame him? Not from an enthusiast/fan p.o.v., but from a management p.o.v. you can - IMHO
He just failed to take such a worse case scenario into account, and therefore not really had a contingency plan for it.
He just banked on his ability to make it all work. That's why I said earlier, he bed the farm on this project.
Then more and more things started to snowball out of control and turning against him.
RRA not really going the way he had hoped/envisioned it, meaning more cash would be needed then initial budgeted for. AARAB trowing in the towel (for whatever reason), meaning that Daimler needed to take more money into it's hands to buy them out. That money needed to come from somewhere, and if no budgeted for, will come off their profits, sequencing their margins even more.
Now that Daimler is the whole owner their risk/cost exposure has increased significantly.
Again, not the end of the world in itself, but if not anticipated has the potential to change the perspective of the board/shareholders in terms of the benefits (vs. risk) of the whole project.
Boards/Shareholders normally don't like surprises, not this kind of surprises anyway.
Then the delay or inability to reach a beneficial solution with FOM and cut a deal in terms of the Concord Agreement.
The fact, that the board felt the need (rightly or wrongly) to bring in Lauda ( an external adviser), shows that Haug lost somewhat the grip on the whole project. He became paralyzed by the events surrounding him, seeing his dream fade away and all his plans unravel in front of his eyes.
That at the same time, the DTM campaign hit a new low, surely did not helped him.
He reminds me a bit of an trader, who will watch the market turn against him, unable to liquidate his position, watching in
amazement the ever increasing losses, unable to pull the trigger and getting out , hoping against hope, that it all will turn out o.k., until he is wiped out or a margin call forces him to close the position.
It, was not the initial trade (plan/business) which ruined him, but being unable to do something about it, when it started to go belly up. Now, perhaps the board has made the margin call to him, forcing him out of his position.
That's just my take on it - could be all wrong.
As you say, being too involved/invested in the whole project on a personal level (friends, buddies & amigos) does not help, only a sound contingency planning and iron discipline do.
But, I still don't rule out the possibility that he quit on his own, and/or that there can be some personal reasons (health, family) which are outside the direct scope of MGP.
The timing and style how this was done, and announced is a bit suspect, that does not look like a "planed execution".
That he would miss his targets, could be seen since a long time ( at least since Monaco), so if they wanted him to take the fall for that, it could have been handled a bit more "elegant", seeing that he just turned 60.
He could have been complemented out of the job, with a cake and a farewell party at the last GP, citing his age and some company policy as reasons.
Also there does not appear to be any contingency planning for this case/event on Mercedes side (does not paint a good picture of the organisation as well), and I can't really see Lauda assuming the Mercedes-Motorsport manager position, including DTM/F3 and all. Which makes we wonder, if the board really throw him under the bus on short notice, that would
be a bit like cutting ones nose to spit ones face.
But who knows, stranger things have happened, their is a lot of ego involved in this sport/business
Daimler is stuck in a "too big to fail" position now, there is no real exit strategy, so they will have to bite the bullet and throw more money and resources into the project, to try to save face and maybe make it work somehow.
I'm still a bit surprised what happened with the FOM/Eccelstone being convicted threat , and how they will get this into accordance with their Cooperate Government policy, as they now seem to have committed for a time frame in which Eccelstone could be found guilty and being convicted.
The change in the top management of MHPE at the same time also seems to be a bit suspicious. Maybe pure coincidence, but maybe not. Just wondering, if their were some skeletons falling out of the closet.
Things like budget overruns which were tried to be brushed under the carpet &/or problems with the 2014 engine.
Seeing that there are some speculations that FI could jump ship to Ferrari, that would have a massive effect on the turnover/cost projections of the 2014 engine program.
That's pure speculation on my part, could well be wrong, just thinking out loud, but the timing and dynamics of the latest events are a least interesting, if not suspicious.
I will leave it at this, I don't really have a dog in this fight and I'm not in the business of trying to predict the future.
More of an interested observer, so I will leave the more vivid discussions to the hard core fans, but it would be nice
if the mudslinging would not be aimed at others (teams etc.), just in attempts to rationalize & rectify the performance of
your own heroes.
