Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team 2014

[diego1960]

As a lifelong Mercedes afficionado/nut, this day has been coming since the "concept by Mercedes" days with Sauber. But as some of us Merc fans celebrate, spare a thought for 2 men who will get little or no credit for this success.

Norby Haug, who was there from the beginning. And Ross Brawn, who was there from the beginning of this teams inception.

And its right they get no credit.

Both left as failures, no reason to start remembering the dark times when they where "in charge" of the team.

I don't think there is a reason to miss or remember them or even talk about them to be honest, the team in place now is far more capable of achieving results and it is down to Dr. Z. and the money he allowed to be spent on recruiting, not Haug or Ross. And the history is written without these two, and the car designed without them, so no need for them to be mentioned in this glorius season, on the other hand they should be mentioned all the time in the times we failed under their guidance.

[Richard]

The glorious season in a car designed when Brawn was in charge, by a team recruited by Brawn, driven by drivers recruited by Brawn? He also took the team to second in the WCC in 2013, what total failure

Haug and Brawn were also the two who convinced Merc to create a works team from the wreckage of the Honda team. Without them there might not even be a Merc team now.

[SiLo]

I think they laid the foundations and put in the tough work, and they were probably paid handsomely for it. I'm already getting tired of people reminding us of the work that Brawn did. Yes, he did a lot of the work for this success, we get it.

[FoxHound]

Haug and Brawn were also the two who convinced Merc to create a works team from the wreckage of the Honda team. Without them there might not even be a Merc team now.

There may not have been a team at all.
If we look at what is happening/happened to HRT, Caterham and Marussia, there is mileage in the skeletal remains of Tyrell/BAR/Honda/Brawn just dissipating into the ether.
Asset strippers circled like vultures at the time, and while I have no doubt in my mind that Brawn sold Mercedes short in the beginning, he managed to accomplish some worthy feats.

Ensuring the teams survival being one.

In an alternate universe, I could see Mercedes purchasing Sauber in 2010, and not Brawn in 2009. Previous historical links, and BMW's untimely withdrawal would've created a perfect vacuum for Mercedes. Can you imagine? BMW can't make this win, but we can? Priceless.

Had that happened, I'm pretty sure the Brawn team would be 100% defunct. With Brawn receiving their Bernie cash a year in advance, any suitors wanting to purchase would face a 100 million deficit from the get go, along with the purchase and the short term cost of downsizing due to redundancy. It made more sense to start a team from scratch,as HRT, Virgin and Caterham/Lotus did.

And even without those constraints, their survival is looking about as likely as a Turkey moonwalking through Harlem on Christmas eve, unscathed.

[Skippon]

The glorious season in a car designed when Brawn was in charge, by a team recruited by Brawn, driven by drivers recruited by Brawn? He also took the team to second in the WCC in 2013, what total failure

Haug and Brawn were also the two who convinced Merc to create a works team from the wreckage of the Honda team. Without them there might not even be a Merc team now.

Yes - Mercedes current F1 adventure was Haugs dream...
Specifically for HPP the adoption of Brackley to become the works team (It couldn't have been MClaren).
Then bringing KERS in-house from 2010 as the prototype for ERS and all the hybrid integration/strategy.
It was never going to be success in a singe season - Mercedes played the long game for 2014, starting in December 2008!!!

Watching him go was a sad moment!!!

[spadeflush]

Not sure if this has been posted but here's an interesting read about the costs involved in securing the championship.
http://www.formula1blog.com/f1b-op-ed/t ... mpionship/

[SilverArrow10]

The glorious season in a car designed when Brawn was in charge, by a team recruited by Brawn, driven by drivers recruited by Brawn? He also took the team to second in the WCC in 2013, what total failure

Haug and Brawn were also the two who convinced Merc to create a works team from the wreckage of the Honda team. Without them there might not even be a Merc team now.

Yes - Mercedes current F1 adventure was Haugs dream...
Specifically for HPP the adoption of Brackley to become the works team (It couldn't have been MClaren).
Then bringing KERS in-house from 2010 as the prototype for ERS and all the hybrid integration/strategy.
It was never going to be success in a singe season - Mercedes played the long game for 2014, starting in December 2008!!!

Watching him go was a sad moment!!!

I just had a thought that made me shiver, without Mercedes coming into the sport Redbull would be winning its 5th consecutive constructor title in as many years and as the ones most likely to challenge Mercedes next year could have bagged even more. I couldn't stand the smugness from Marko. Thank you Mercedes!!! =D>

[astracrazy]

It's good work from Mercedes. They had a long term plan for 2014 and executed it and it worked.

I'd like to of heard a little mention from the team for Haug - he was almost the fall guy for Merc not having instant success in 2010, 11 and 12. He 'left' at the end of 2012 - right before the success started (2013 massive step, 2014 success). So he must of had some roll in that.

But lets remember, this is only half the success. They need to make sure they stick at the top for a few seasons yet else all the planning for this year will be in vein

[spadeflush]

It might be safe to infer that Mercedes will be title contenders for at least the next couple of years considering their current dominance. They will have to make serious mistakes in developing the W06/W07 and the engine to get beaten. Ever since this team was formed they had a target for 2014 when the rules were gonna change and they achieved it in the most dominant way possible. Kudos to every person at Brackley and Brixworth and Brawn, Haug, Schumacher and everyone else involved in making this team what it is now. =D>

[NewtonMeter]

Asset strippers circled like vultures at the time, and while I have no doubt in my mind that Brawn sold Mercedes short in the beginning, he managed to accomplish some worthy feats.

We must remember though, that at the time there was talk of a resource restriction with strict limits on personnel and expenditure. The 2010 and original war plan was for Merc to be at that level already while the other teams had to still get there. That is what Brawn sold to Mercedes and I believe he was transparent with them about it.

But we know what happened. Nothing. When Brawn saw that the other teams were never going to stick to that original plan, he went on a very aggressive hiring spree. He got Bell, Costa, Willis and many many more. We all remember the wildly popular and very annoying too many chefs jokes.

The big fault was on mercedes for running out of patience one year too soon. If they'd just waited to the end of 2013 before they made Norbert fall on his sword and gave Brawn his marching orders we'd still have the original team that conceived the current success.

Even last year things were looking quite up and Merc were really the only team showing Red Bull some teeth. But alas, their patience dried up.

Damn, I miss Norby. That crazy bastard.

[astracrazy]

People who actually made this happen for them have been forgotten

“It (The championship) means a lot,” added Lauda. “I have to tell you I’m a little emotional. When we started this together – Ross Brawn, Toto Wolff and myself – it was hard work.”

I'm not sure what Lauda is on about here because him and Toto came in when things were starting to look rosey? Lauda joined Sept 2012 and Wolff start of 2013.

I'm pretty sure a lot of the hard work must of been prior to that with Ross, Haug and Nick Fry (considering 2014 has been worked on for at least 3 years). Shame all three of them were not around to see the success.

[FoxHound]

Lauda arrived at a pretty dark time for Mercedes. 2012 was a year of regression.

[Manoah2u]

They have the constructor trophy from Red bull already?? Thought it got given out at a ceremony at the end of the year.

Wait wut? I guess i must have been sleeping all the time i've seen F1 since the early 90's, i thought there was a new Trophy given out annually? The constructor doesn't get to keep the Trophy they won the year before?

[Richard]

They have the constructor trophy from Red bull already?? Thought it got given out at a ceremony at the end of the year.

Wait wut? I guess i must have been sleeping all the time i've seen F1 since the early 90's, i thought there was a new Trophy given out annually? The constructor doesn't get to keep the Trophy they won the year before?

You've been asleep. Fast forward to 4m25s below. There is one WDC trophy and one WCC trophy, each of them engraved with previous winners.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watchv=PNuQMmnTpoo[/youtube]

[Manoah2u]

wow. just wow. i feel like i've been under a stone how on earth did i not know this

thanx for the vid!