Mercedes buys 75.1% stake in Brawn GP

After rumours had recently increased about a buyout of Brawn GP, Mercedes is now confirmed to have bought 75.1% of Brawn GP shares. The team will consequently be renamed to Mercedes GP and looks set to run world champion Jenson Button and Nico Rosberg in 2010.

At noon, Mercedes gave a press conference about the new deal. The German car manufacturer itself takes 45.1% of the shares, while minority stake holder in Mercedes itself, Aabar Investments owns 30% of the shares. The deal was financed by Mercedes' own sale of 40% stake in McLaren.

The McLaren Mercedes split, after 15 years of partnership was fuelled by McLaren's decision to start building its own supercar, the MP4-15C, a direct competitor to Mercedes' upcoming SLS model.

As their deal as only scheduled to end in 2011, Ron Dennis aimed to get the 40% stake back for no cost as an early termination of the contract. Recent involvement in the spy scandal however put McLaren in a difficult position to negotiate this deal, ending with a sell of around 200 million Euro. The team however will continue to get Mercedes engines until 2015, but loses development support and the 50-percent contribution to the driver's salary.

The new Mercedes GP team will likely be competitive right from the start as Brawn GP have already heavily developed their 2010 competitor.