As we lose one manufacturer, we now gain another as Mercedes announced today that it has purchased a 75% majority in the Brackley based Brawn GP. Also announced was the contract renewal of their deal with McLaren as well until 2015.
Chatter had indicated that Mercedes would become more involved with Brawn GP, but to what degree remained a close secret. The team will now be a full works operation and will use the same Brackley base as opposed to opening a new location in Germany. Also, the management team of Nick Fry and Ross Brawn will remain in place as well as the employees at the shop. Their have been no announcements pertaining to the driver lineup, but currently the team is still negotiating with Jenson Button and is thought to be going after Nico Rosberg and maybe Nick Heidfeld if a deal cannot be reached with Button.
Mercedes also renewed their partnership with McLaren until 2015 at least. The only catch to this deal is Mercedes will be looking to sell 40% of its holdings in the team within the next two years. The McLaren group is supposed to purchase these rights before the end of 2011. It will be interesting to see how these two teams work together on the grid. Having four potential cars gathering data will prove to be a help as testing time remains limited. The good news is that Ross Brawn will be the man selecting the drivers, so it does not seem at this moment that we will have a race team ran by a bunch of CEOs. They have really left most of the heavy lifting to Ross and are really just fronting the money. Amazing to see how far this team has come and how much it has evolved in the last year to come from a manufacturer to a privateer and now back to a manufacturer. 2010 is certainly shaping up to be a very interesting year to say the least.
I’m a happy fan! I finally have a full-fledged team to root for! 😀
Signs are really pointing to Jensen at McLaren. Looks like Brawn/Mercedes is working under a salary cap.
Hamilton and Button will make a good pair at McLaren. Two good Brits on a Brit team, and Button will be a great #2 driver. I’m excited to see whom MGP selects at their drivers. Nick and Nico would be nice!