The signs are growing that McLaren and Mercedes-Benz are headed for different futures in Formula One.
The companies had already parted in terms of their joint road sports car programmes, and reports have intensified throughout this week that a similar split is looming in terms of their 15-year F1 collaboration.
On Wednesday, Auto Motor und Sport claimed that McLaren is getting in the way of Mercedes’ plans for next season by currently vetoing the intended engine supply deal with Red Bull Racing.
The tension on this front is almost certainly also linked with yet another team, as both the German language Blick and Auto Motor und Sport publications report that Brackley-based Brawn GP is set to be 75% owned by Mercedes by 2012.
McLaren has a contract for exclusive works rights until the end of 2011, so until Mercedes can buy Brawn itself, the Daimler AG shareholder AABAR of Abu Dhabi could hold the stake, Auto Motor und Sport said on Thursday.
“If we wanted to change anything with our Formula One commitment then we could certainly speak with Abu Dhabi,” Mercedes parent Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche is quoted as saying.
Auto Motor und Sport said contracts with Brawn GP are to be signed shortly, with a deal to include a silver livery from 2010 and the Mercedes logo on the engine cover.
Brawn’s new title sponsor is said to be a German company, and 24-year-old German Nico Rosberg is the favourite to become Jenson Button’s 2010 team-mate, the report added.
In an article by veteran journalist Roger Benoit, it is claimed that Mercedes will allow its contract with McLaren to lapse at the end of 2011, and by then the German manufacturer will own 75% of Brawn GP.
Blick reports that the Brawn buyout is in conjunction with Arab partners, and the Brackley-built cars feature prominent Mercedes branding next year.
The publication also claims that Rosberg is in fact not heading to McLaren – the British team that is currently 40% owned by Mercedes – but to Brawn, despite chief executive Nick Fry saying recently he was happy to keep Rubens Barrichello alongside Jenson Button.
Rosberg said coyly last week that although still with multiple options for next year, he had now at least honed in on one in particular.
“Nico is an option,” Mercedes’ motorsport vice president Norbert Haug said on Tuesday. “He is a candidate.”
E.A. © CAPSIS International
Source: GMM
