If you have the incurable 2009 fetish you can wallow in the festering corpse here
http://www.f1technical.net/forum/viewto ... 15&t=13178 
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Mercedes AMG has announced it has signed two engineers from Red Bull Racing to strengthen the technical department following the departure of Ross Brawn as team principal.
http://www.f1technical.net/forum/viewto ... 15&t=13178 
I hope he gets it.Dragonfly wrote:What would you say about this?
Lauda might get chief executive role at Alitalia.
http://www.motorsport-total.com/f1/spli ... 22801.html
because he is old, and old people goes senile, and when you are senile you dont give a *uck what you wearingRicerDude wrote:Why does Lauda still wear an aabar cap?
I think they're his private sponsor. I seem to remember him wearing that cap long before he joined Mercedes...RicerDude wrote:Why does Lauda still wear an aabar cap?
What has all this to do with the Merc. And by the way, I think that aabar and Lauda had a falling out and he no longer uses their cap.RicerDude wrote:Why does Lauda still wear an aabar cap?
THIS!!Neno wrote:because he is old, and old people goes senile, and when you are senile you dont give a *uck what you wearingRicerDude wrote:Why does Lauda still wear an aabar cap?
Hahahaha, comment of the day!Neno wrote:because he is old, and old people goes senile, and when you are senile you dont give a *uck what you wearingRicerDude wrote:Why does Lauda still wear an aabar cap?
The most important thing about this story is. The contract between McLaren en Mercedes. McLaren has an option to sign for 1 or 2 years. If its a one-sided option, then Merc is contractually obligated to deliver or maybe pay a fee if they decide they don't want to deliver the powerunit. If it is a mutual option then Merc can say no without giving a reason. I can't see Mercedes even delivering McLaren if they would like a 2 year deal. Toto Wolff has come out an say that they are looking for an long term deal. They amount of intellectual information is just to valuable to hand over to McLaren if they only going to use it for 1 or 2 years. Because this isn't a ordinary engine it has a lot of components and technology that Mercedes eventually will use in their road cars. Every engine manufacturer would love to have a peak in their rivals engine department.Also the story of Honda engineers being already at Woking could be reason to not provide McLaren with the new powerunit's. So it will be Honda in 2014 or no Honda at all for McLaren if I look at this case. I think i could go as far as McLaren taken an hiatus in 2014 and returning in 2015 with Honda, or McLaren being aloud to use the V8 for another year who knows. The new concorde agreement should tie up the teams until 2021. So i think Merc will be looking for a contract of a minimum of 4 or 5 years. Because in for or five years the tech in the powerunit would have reached to road cars and at that point the secrets are more or less out in the open.liveforf1 wrote:i saw recently where the bbc is reporting that Honda will return to supply McLaren in 2015. is Mercedes wise to continue to supply McLaren in 2014? are they contractually bond to do so at this point? would supplying McLaren give Honda a heads up or inside insight as to the strengths of Mercedes' engine design? How much would Mercedes be able to control that aspect of their partnership in terms of what intellectual property they would be giving up to a team they supply?
Agreed. But cash in the hand will also play a part. Any supplier, struggling for cash, is likely to take one in the (*&^ to get their hands on some rare cash. I'm not suggesting that Mercedes needs the cash, but if they do, they'll take any deal rather than none.kooleracer wrote:The amount of intellectual information is just to valuable to hand over to McLaren if they only going to use it for 1 or 2 years.
I think the main issue for Mercedes is, as you have stated, intellectual property and money. Mercedes HPE must be thinking if we are having to spend money to design certain bespoke parts for McLaren, then we may as well tie McLaren in for a longer term contract. Why should Mercedes spend the money to benefit McLaren only to see them run off into the sunset with Honda in 2015 (if Honda is indeed making a comeback)?Cam wrote:Agreed. But cash in the hand will also play a part. Any supplier, struggling for cash, is likely to take one in the (*&^ to get their hands on some rare cash. I'm not suggesting that Mercedes needs the cash, but if they do, they'll take any deal rather than none.kooleracer wrote:The amount of intellectual information is just to valuable to hand over to McLaren if they only going to use it for 1 or 2 years.
Having to give away trade tech for a one or two year deal would indeed be a blow to Mercedes and a coup to (potentially) Honda. Merc might hedge their bets if a short contract occurs and ensure McLaren only ever gets the A spec engine, or something along those lines. Certainly writing into a contract that McLaren get 'a' engine, rather than the 'best' engine, might be an option. If McLaren "need" an engine for 2014, they can't say no to tough terms, really, can they.