Mercedes GP - Inauguration and 1st season

[marcush.]

how would this have happened?

[xpensive]

how would this have happened?

A few clicks on a keyboard would be the modern way, but it could also have been Norbert Haug doing a "Midnight xpress"?

[zeph]

I doubt if Honda was as desperate as paying for the 2009 season to get rid of their investment, why I belive that Brawn GP was a three-way deal, which resulted in a considerable amount of Euros being transfered from Stuttgart to Japan.

Interesting thought, but I feel that we are venturing off into the realm of Conspiracy Theories and Alien Abduction.

Could all be true, but if Mercedes was in the picture even then, why not just start the 2009 season as Mercedes GP?

[marcush.]

comeon..that sort of money is not available for free transport in a company controlled by shareholders.
It is crime .Not that this would be a hinderance but ultimately it would cause a scandal as inside merc there are of course those who want to see that money spending stop..so theres always some suspicious invetigation going on just where the money flows and how..now ays..but time will tell possibly..How would that income show up in japan?
You would not want to have a cash in of 80mill € with no obvious things standing against them .bookkeeping anyone?

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

There is no way that a single Euro went from Mercedes-Benz to Honda.
Daimler are a listed company, Mercedes is part of that. As such any aquisition requires full disclosure to shareholders.

Mercedes along with Aabar investments took a controlling interest in Brawn GP on Novemebr 16th 2009. No monies were either recieved or promised to Honda as part of this deal.

Brawn and Fry sold the team, not Honda. Brawn and Fry recived recompense not Honda.
And with all assets and staff, for Mercedes to do the same from scratch would have cost them over £500 million easily.

A ready made team that is helmed by Brawn for £80 million is a bargain. And 4th position for £80 million is a bargain too!
Ask Virgin Lotus and Hispania what you get for £60million.

Looked at in context, its a good bit of business.

But of course the legacy of the silver arrows are such that they demand instant success, and in this day and age that is a tad unrealistic.
With al this talk of "suits" getting nervous, Zetsche has already outlined Mercedes 3 year commitment. He has made no further promises, and I can only commend him for the clarity that appears to get lost in translation on these pages.

If they dont win in those three years, then of course they will probably be off. And the will also have said as much right from the very start.

[marcush.]

with brawn admitting that he instantly reinvested the money he received from Mercedes straight into the company to make progress.

[xpensive]

@ zeph; With the Daimler beurocracy, there was no time to set up a Mercedes GP properly for 2009, besides, they would look like re-badged Hondas and talks with McLaren was necessary, why a one year "Brawn-buffer" made certain sense.

@ marcush and JET; Transfering 100 MEUR or whatever, by cash, options, an IOU, installement plan or whatever, can very easily be chanelled from anyone to anywhere these days, this would have been the least of Haugs problems.

Do you seriously believe that a Japanese suit would risk losing face to the board just like that? Harakiri comes to mind.

I think Norbert Haug and the Suttgart-suits were set up for an elaborate sting by Honda and Ross Brawn, when the Double-diffuser was part of the lure, MrM was probably in on it as well?

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

What you are proposing is an elaborate sale and transfer of Honda through to Mercedes by means which go against a listed companies operating guidlines.

Why would you want to dispute somthing that has no foundation? Because at best what you are proposing is speculative. Please dont feel that I'm being condescending, as I value your posts and respect your opinion.

[zeph]

I am not especially partial to Mercedes GP (I dislike Schu and think Rosberg's a little overrated) but I AM glad that they have chosen to participate in F1. With the departure of BMW, Toyota and Honda I feared that soon F1 would once again be the exclusive playground of the English garage-owners. :-"

Having a works teams in the sport adds weight and credibility to the series. We should all be glad that Mercedes has chosen to be a part of F1 and hope that they will do well enough to ensure their continued participation.

It would be a pity to see another works team bow out after 3 years.

[xpensive]

Operating guidelines?

Don't be so bleedingly naive and think for yourself for a little while JET, it's like when people claims that Ross Brawn offered to close the diffuser loophole long before the 2009-season. Why they belive that? "Because Ross said so..."

Ross Brawn and MrM are buddies since the 70s, why the latter was more than happy to go along with anything that messed with FOTA, Ron Dennis in particular.

And zeph, you be lucky to see them around for three years.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Xpensive

Do you agree that what you are saying is speculative and has no reputed source?

[marcush.]

I also find it quite amusing to think Mercedes is under any more of a thread from Renault now compared to earlier on in the championship...In fact only the one non points scoring finish was a blow to Merc,counting the last 4 races Renault only came closer by 3 points...not a drama ,really.
It is always a matter of perspective really ..and keep going .

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

closing 3 points in 4 races is so fast they will close the gap by mid 2011

[xpensive]

@ JET;
Give it a name if you wish, to me it's rather obvious anyway.

@ marcush;
Mercedes is not running a one-car team with the addition of a pay-driver, but a 7-time WDC and an F1-regular.

[marcush.]

that paydriver gave the highly rated Kubica a pound in Hungary ....where Robert had no answer..Petrov has a well filled wallet but look he is the best rookie this year ,beating wonderkind Hülkenberg and matching Kobayashi on points scored.