Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team 2013

[kooleracer]

I honestly don't know what Lowe can contribute to the team outside of the design and engineering fields. Taking Lowe out of design and engineering is just not the right thing to do.

Brawn was/is a good race strategist and a decent manager of resources and most importantly, he's on the same wavelength as Bernie and Todt.

Its all about power en big ego's. Toto Wolff has 30% of the shares of the team. He wants to be the boss with 30% of the shares that means his personal money is invested in the team. No businessman would acquire 30% of shares without having input in that particular company. I'm 100% that Lowe was the idea of Wolff the only way you can sack Brawn is the bring somebody with the same technical ability. Ross has 2 jobs managing the team and creating a organizational structure that will benefit the team and coordinating the technical department. With the signing of Lowe the technical department would be Lowe's responsibility and the organizational structure would be Wolff's responsibility. I think the team principal job will disappear along with Nick Fry. Toto Wolff will become CEO and Paddy Lowe will become Chief Technology Officer (CTO). I can't see Paddy Lowe moving from McLaren to work under Brawn of beside Bob Bell. Also Nick Fry hasn't been mentioned so maybe he is also on a gardening leave. Wolff has now inherited Norbert Haug's old job. I dont think Wolff took 30% of the shares to be the new Haug, he wants the head the Mercedes F1 team and be the new CEO.

Lauda broked the new deal for Mercedes and not Brawn so that comment about the same wavelength is not accurate. Brawn has become redundant as hard as it for him to grasp. Also the Mercedes F1 team is a difficult organization, you have Brackley,Brixworth and some parts at Mercedes HQ. I don't think Ross is the right man to do that. Toto is more the business type and he understands how Germans conduct business.

[johnny99]

What are Brawn's Engineering skills ?. He is a great stratagist, esp when we had open testing, and is generally good on the pit wall, but is designing and developing a car ?

John

[kooleracer]

What are Brawn's Engineering skills ?. He is a great stratagist, esp when we had open testing, and is generally good on the pit wall, but is designing and developing a car ?

John

Brawn is a Aerodynamicist by trade, so I think he will know a thing or two about F1 cars you don't become a Williams Aerodynamicist by knowing nothing about F1 cars. People talk awfully low about the capabilities of Ross. Of course he isnt a Newey or Byrne, but he isn't a total fool.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABWpZKoaBuA

[mantikos]

Ha - if you think they were richer than McLaren and Ferrari I need some of that good stuff you are smoking.

http://adamcooperf1.com/2010/09/14/braw ... t-in-2009/

http://www.pitpass.com/42149-The-truth- ... rd-revenue

Brawn GP had more money flowing into its coffers last year than Red Bull, McLaren and Renault yet it didn't have a car manufacturer or a billionaire backing it.

English might not be your first language so let me help you:

If I have $1 in the bank and make a $1000 this year that doesn't make me richer than someone with $10,000 in the bank and $800 for the year...hope that clarifies. Cashflow for one year doesn't make Brawn richer than McLaren and Ferrari.

[ringo]

What are Brawn's Engineering skills ?. He is a great stratagist, esp when we had open testing, and is generally good on the pit wall, but is designing and developing a car ?

John

Brawn is a Aerodynamicist by trade, so I think he will know a thing or two about F1 cars you don't become a Williams Aerodynamicist by knowing nothing about F1 cars. People talk awfully low about the capabilities of Ross. Of course he isnt a Newey or Byrne, but he isn't a total fool.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABWpZKoaBuA

Brawn is not a big time aerodynamicist. He's skills may not extend beyond a mater mechanic or master technician.
He's not car designer.
In some ways he's obsolete, but i feel he still makes a decent enough manager.

[johnny99]

That's what I'm saying, but if he was a good manager, what happened over the last 3 years, with good drivers. Don't get me wrong, I like the guy, but with the present company in MGP, I don't see a role for him.

John

[FemiA]

That's what I'm saying, but if he was a good manager, what happened over the last 3 years, with good drivers. Don't get me wrong, I like the guy, but with the present company in MGP, I don't see a role for him.
John

Merc didn't have the infrastructure necessary to develop competitively and now they do, they have produced a good car that they can effectively develop through the season. Of course they are going to need all of that and some to push to the front this season - seeing staff restructuring while others are at the point of fine tunning procedures.

The W04 is almost a year behind the Mclaren, RB, Ferrari, Lotus e.t.c. The positive aspect of this is they can make multiple significant jumps during the season while the others are hopefully crawling forward...

[elf341]

Brawn is not a big time aerodynamicist. He's skills may not extend beyond a mater mechanic or master technician.
He's not car designer.
In some ways he's obsolete, but i feel he still makes a decent enough manager.

I think you're being a bit unfair in your assessment suggesting he is obsolete. He oversaw and had the strategical foresight to win the very recent 2009 campaign - even though multiple other teams debuted the DD innovation. It's fairly clear that his modus operandi is to push his team in interesting and unique directions - the last three years' novel and contrarian directions did not work - but that is the risk to such an approach: high risk, high potential reward.

Ross Brawn's leadership may not have achieved as many 2nd and 3rd place constructors as McLaren, but I'm sure if you ask anyone involved in F1 you'll find that achieving 2nd/3rd is not really what they get out of bed for. I think that's what Hamilton finally understood last year.

[astracrazy]

What are Brawn's Engineering skills ?. He is a great stratagist, esp when we had open testing, and is generally good on the pit wall, but is designing and developing a car ?

John

Brawn is a Aerodynamicist by trade, so I think he will know a thing or two about F1 cars you don't become a Williams Aerodynamicist by knowing nothing about F1 cars. People talk awfully low about the capabilities of Ross. Of course he isnt a Newey or Byrne, but he isn't a total fool.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABWpZKoaBuA

Brawn is not a big time aerodynamicist. He's skills may not extend beyond a mater mechanic or master technician.
He's not car designer.
In some ways he's obsolete, but i feel he still makes a decent enough manager.

i'm pretty sure the BGP001 was overseen by him. I'm sure i read an interview where everything that went on the car only did so with his approval. Did he not find the loop hole for the double diffuser? Finding that loop hole and making something of it arguably won them that championship....possibly

he doesn't sit there and design himself, but i'm pretty sure he is on the same wavelength as the people who do

[pocketmoon]

Having met the guy, there are a couple of things Mr Brawn has which you absolutely need in his position, charisma and gravitas (and an excellent PA!) Paddy Lowe doesn't strike me as that kind of leader.

[TheBaverianBasterd]

That's what I'm saying, but if he was a good manager, what happened over the last 3 years, with good drivers. Don't get me wrong, I like the guy, but with the present company in MGP, I don't see a role for him.
John

Merc didn't have the infrastructure necessary to develop competitively and now they do, they have produced a good car that they can effectively develop through the season. Of course they are going to need all of that and some to push to the front this season - seeing staff restructuring while others are at the point of fine tunning procedures.

The W04 is almost a year behind the Mclaren, RB, Ferrari, Lotus e.t.c. The positive aspect of this is they can make multiple significant jumps during the season while the others are hopefully crawling forward...

How can you claim that Mercedes actually has the proper infrastructure now? Since we are still a few weeks away from knowing whether the W04 is more of the same. You cannot (even reasonably) make the claim that "they have produced a good car they can effectively develop through the season." There is nothing that supports your claim to date. Testing is irrelevant as none of us know what the details were of any of the stints performed by teams.

You contradicted yourself at the end there by saying the W04 is a year behind the top runners. That would pretty much shoot a hole in the theory that this is a good car as a good car isn't a year behind.

[TheBaverianBasterd]

i'm pretty sure the BGP001 was overseen by him. I'm sure i read an interview where everything that went on the car only did so with his approval. Did he not find the loop hole for the double diffuser? Finding that loop hole and making something of it arguably won them that championship....possibly

he doesn't sit there and design himself, but i'm pretty sure he is on the same wavelength as the people who do

Let's give credit, where credit is due. Ross's old buddies in the FIA rammed that decision on the double diffuser home. He didn't find anything. Much is the case with many things in his life, he always benefited from who he knew, not what he knew.

[TheBaverianBasterd]

Having met the guy, there are a couple of things Mr Brawn has which you absolutely need in his position, charisma and gravitas (and an excellent PA!) Paddy Lowe doesn't strike me as that kind of leader.

He has so much charisma that Brackley hasn't done any real meaningful work in 3 years...going on 4 now.

[TheBaverianBasterd]

Brawn is not a big time aerodynamicist. He's skills may not extend beyond a mater mechanic or master technician.
He's not car designer.
In some ways he's obsolete, but i feel he still makes a decent enough manager.

I think you're being a bit unfair in your assessment suggesting he is obsolete. He oversaw and had the strategical foresight to win the very recent 2009 campaign - even though multiple other teams debuted the DD innovation. It's fairly clear that his modus operandi is to push his team in interesting and unique directions - the last three years' novel and contrarian directions did not work - but that is the risk to such an approach: high risk, high potential reward.

Ross Brawn's leadership may not have achieved as many 2nd and 3rd place constructors as McLaren, but I'm sure if you ask anyone involved in F1 you'll find that achieving 2nd/3rd is not really what they get out of bed for. I think that's what Hamilton finally understood last year.

Again, the FIA giving a freebie handout because Ross and a few guys go way back doesn't equate to him having any strategical foresight. He won 2009 based on a loophole that was given to him, and also the gift of the Honda design that he bought for pennies on the dollar.

I'm sorry, but saying his modus operandi is to push his team in "interesting and unique directions" is absurd. That's an excuse to absolve him of the fact that he's done nothing to steer this team in a direction where success might actually be achieved. The rules are so stringent now that unique directions are far and few. His direction didn't work because he didn't actually know what direction the team had to go in. He wasted months babbling on about needing to understand the tires. I recall when there were claims being made the W03 was great in a straight line and in medium, and low speed corners. Then that all came out as being nothing more than smoke and mirrors like everything else.

Then again, maybe you're right, the team has gone in unique direction with the bringing onboard of Lauda, and then Wolff.

Somewhere Bobby Rahal is just shaking his head in disbelief.

[Anon123]

I recall when there were claims being made the W03 was great in a straight line and in medium, and low speed corners. Then that all came out as being nothing more than smoke and mirrors like everything else.

It was in Shanghai at least, good mechanical grip for the low speed stuff and a high downforce setting which they could afford to run thanks to DDRS. I can't wait to see what they can do in the next few years with so many bright people on board.