Brawn on the way out?

[Derek Smith]

Now that's a surprise to me.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/motorsport/formul...

Only rumours at the moment but it has forced a denial.

Interesting, very interesting.

[Crafty_]

Its just a very bored media making up stuff to write about imho.

[craigjm]

Wont take him long to get another job if true.

[belleair302]

The politics in Milton Keynes at the moment is beyond belief and the board of M-B in Germany will as usual make the wrong decision about F1. Funny how they failed to look at BMW's failures and those of Toyota too. Niki Lauda is not a board member of any stature and has failed every time to build a team. His lack of intelligence will ultimately allow M-B to leave F1 and the team will fail.

Brawn will in my eyes walk away from F1 with a decent payout and come back in two years time refreshed and over in Italy wearing red. The Silver Arrows will vanish to be purchased by either Prodrive (or their investors) or an arab backed petro chemical organisation.

[Reardy Mister]

I wonder to what extent Brawn's presence was part of the attraction for LH?

Were he to leave, I think it would be catastrophic for him. How likely is it his contract contains clauses specifying the employ of certain staff at MB?

[mattikake]

Hmmm... I was looking forward to see what Brawn could get out of Lewis. It's clear one of Lewis' problems with McLaren was reliability, but another was strategy and ... unneccessary feck ups. Brawn proved with Schumi at Ferrari that his tactics can shine and inspire confidence in drivers and teams.

But then you get the feeling the only reason Brawn was kept where he was at MB was to try to reignite the partnership with Schumi. It failed. Not exactly Brawn's fault but you cen see he's the only one to really take the hit.

I'm suppose a lot will depend on 2013 performances and results.

Funny though. I've never heard anyone suggesting Lauda is unintelligent before. He probably knows more than any other in F1 what it takes to focus a team and turn it around. Maybe Lauda should be given a proper shot as team principal?

[jonnylayze]

mattikake said:

Hmmm... I was looking forward to see what Brawn could get out of Lewis. It's clear one of Lewis' problems with McLaren was reliability, but another was strategy and ... unneccessary feck ups. Brawn proved with Schumi at Ferrari that his tactics can shine and inspire confidence in drivers and teams.

But then you get the feeling the only reason Brawn was kept where he was at MB was to try to reignite the partnership with Schumi. It failed. Not exactly Brawn's fault but you cen see he's the only one to really take the hit.

I'm suppose a lot will depend on 2013 performances and results.

Funny though. I've never heard anyone suggesting Lauda is unintelligent before. He probably knows more than any other in F1 what it takes to focus a team and turn it around. Maybe Lauda should be given a proper shot as team principal?

He knows more than anyone else what it took to turn a team around in 1974...... His more recent track record is patchy at best and disastrous at worst (look at Jaguar). There are plenty of others who understand the business better than him.

I think RB would have been one of the main attractions for LH in joining Mercedes - along with the promise of massive investment. However, you wonder how long the Board will stay patient. I understand that as part of his move, Toto Wolff has bought a share holding in the team. This surprised me and is, perhaps, indicative of a failure to truly commit for the long term on the part of MB as a team, rather than simply as an engine manufacturer.

[anonymous-user]

belleair302 said:

The politics in Milton Keynes at the moment is beyond belief and the board of M-B in Germany will as usual make the wrong decision about F1. Funny how they failed to look at BMW's failures and those of Toyota too. Niki Lauda is not a board member of any stature and has failed every time to build a team. His lack of intelligence will ultimately allow M-B to leave F1 and the team will fail.

Brawn will in my eyes walk away from F1 with a decent payout and come back in two years time refreshed and over in Italy wearing red. The Silver Arrows will vanish to be purchased by either Prodrive (or their investors) or an arab backed petro chemical organisation.

Milton Keynes?

RB briefed the team this week, in the middle of prolonged visit by LH. The team think he's staying.

Far more to the Woolf / Lauda situation than seems apparent but MB do seem to be creating options for themselves, possibly because of main board splits over F1.

[Chrisgr31]

jonnylayze said:

I understand that as part of his move, Toto Wolff has bought a share holding in the team. This surprised me and is, perhaps, indicative of a failure to truly commit for the long term on the part of MB as a team, rather than simply as an engine manufacturer.

Has he bought or is that how he is being paid? I think I saw somewhere that Wolff was having 30% and Lauda 10%, MB having the remaining 60%. In the meantime Wolff still owns part of M-B.

Brawn has stated that the reason for all these rumours and speculation is that he cannot commit long term even though he wants to. So have to find out why he cant commit long term currently as thats not really clear. Its implied he cant commit long term without a succession plan, but if you are committing log term why do you need a succession plan?

[Derek Smith]

Chrisgr31 said:

Brawn has stated that the reason for all these rumours and speculation is that he cannot commit long term even though he wants to. So have to find out why he cant commit long term currently as thats not really clear.

Perhaps the concord agreement? We are talking about binning F1 and staring with an entirely new formula. I'm not sure I will commit.

[RealSquirrels]

Chrisgr31 said:

jonnylayze said:

I understand that as part of his move, Toto Wolff has bought a share holding in the team. This surprised me and is, perhaps, indicative of a failure to truly commit for the long term on the part of MB as a team, rather than simply as an engine manufacturer.

Has he bought or is that how he is being paid? I think I saw somewhere that Wolff was having 30% and Lauda 10%, MB having the remaining 60%. In the meantime Wolff still owns part of M-B.

Brawn has stated that the reason for all these rumours and speculation is that he cannot commit long term even though he wants to. So have to find out why he cant commit long term currently as thats not really clear. Its implied he cant commit long term without a succession plan, but if you are committing log term why do you need a succession plan?

maybe have bought the team and effectively 'save' it from closing down he wants to ensure it carries on in his absence, probably mostly for the livelihoods of the team members. At least, I would.

[rubystone]

Perhaps Brawn has has enough? Wolff's HWA outfit is closely aligned with Mercedes and Brawn is no idiot..he can see the writing on the wall there. I assume Fry is out of the door very soon. If the team doesn't look like being successful, Mercdes could choose to run it as a satellite under the HWA banner with nest symmetry in the the 'A' in HWA is Mr AMG...Albrecht..

[mattikake]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/21193319

This almost sounds like Lewis is hinting, if Brawn goes, I go. He's certainly rubbishing rumours. Or am I reading too much into that?

[woof]

rubystone said:

Perhaps Brawn has has enough? Wolff's HWA outfit is closely aligned with Mercedes and Brawn is no idiot..he can see the writing on the wall there. I assume Fry is out of the door very soon. If the team doesn't look like being successful, Mercdes could choose to run it as a satellite under the HWA banner with nest symmetry in the the 'A' in HWA is Mr AMG...Albrecht..

There's a lot of chat about HWA taking over the team.

[belleair302]

The shareholding allows M-B AMG or the parent company in Germany to swiftly exit F1 as a team owner, supply engines and not throw € 400 million a year away. Manufacturers have no role in F1, they dip in and out but rarely remain successful and as board members change so does the commitment level.

Toto W does have a shareholding in a DTM Factory team and has been 'persuaded' to invest in the F1 team (using somebody else's money I am sure). Niki Lauder has sold his Air Berlin investment and also bought a share in the F1 team.

Expect M-B to leave in 2014 and lets see what happens with the Concorde Agreement if it ever happens.

Will there be a break away series.....depends upon CVC and their backers, the larger teams in F1 and the investment from a media organisation. Murdoch and ESPN (Disney) unlikely, but companies like IMG and WPP can never be counted out so far as exploiting opportunities. Remember Martin Sorrell sits on the board of CVC, is the CEO and founder of WPP and was the second ever employee of IMG in Europe way back in the 1970's.

It is a sorry mess and I feel for Ross B who is caught up in politics along with the staff. It will get worse before it gets better.

[Bradgate]

It sounds like there are too many chiefs at Brackley, too little direction, and far too much politics.

The list of bosses currently extends to :

Lauda
Wolff
Fry
Brawn
Costa
Willis
Lowe (possibly)

There may be a few more that I have overlooked

Hamilton must be wondering what he has walked into. I confidently predict that this will all end in tears, and sooner rather than later.

[HereBeMonsters]

Hamilton will be with a different team next year.

[Fonz]

I think that there will be a big big shake up of the pinnacle of motor racing over the next few years. This may be just the beginning of it. Let’s face it BCE is not getting any younger and at some point will lose his control over everyone else.

[m0rris]

Indeed there will be but lets just hope that one of the greatest seasons ever is not followed by a tumultuous and chaotic one which sees the sport fall apart.

As for Brawn, we know he missed a race due to illness before perhaps he doesn't want to commit long term for health reasons or more likely something else that is beyond the boundaries of F1.

What we've seen so far is a number of changes in the big-wigs at the top and someone who has been openly sought by M-B as a potential leader of the team, if Lowe was to directly replace Brawn surely that'd be announced when he was announced as coming into Merc? IMHO it looks like they have brought someone in who could replace Brawn should the need arise.

[Derek Smith]

Fonz said:

I think that there will be a big big shake up of the pinnacle of motor racing over the next few years. This may be just the beginning of it. Let’s face it BCE is not getting any younger and at some point will lose his control over everyone else.

I think that is a given. The concord agreement will see to that.

Or rather the negotiations and infighting will.

Merc are in a difficult position in that their board dictates their commitment to F1. With Schumacher gone and, probably more importantly, not giving value for money, I would assume there will be a faction that wants out. The unions were a bit iffy on the whole subject and I read - don't know how much faith to place on it of course - that it was MS that kept them sweet.

I can see them still supplying engines though.

Not good to have doubt about one of the big teams though.

Merc have other things that they might like to concentrate on or possibly commit to pastures new, ones that are cheaper.