How would Mercedes fare without Brawn?

[xpensive]

With the rumors about a possible exit from Mercedes by Ross Brawn, the man who initiated the team,
I wonder how members of the forum would value his importance to the team as is?

[GitanesBlondes]

I'm going to venture a guess that Mercedes might actually fare better without Brawn.

If one removed Lauda from the picture, they might improve so drastically, that Newey might want to join in the fun.

[CHT]

With the rumors about a possible exit from Mercedes by Ross Brawn, the man who initiated the team,
I wonder how members of the forum would value his importance to the team as is?

I think now is about time for the old guard like Ross Brawn to step aside and make way for the next generation of team principle.

[xpensive]

I hope that I do not have to remind all posters to act nice and civil, lesser behavior will not be taken kindly to.

[GitanesBlondes]

On the aero and engine side of things, Brawn's departure will have no impact.

They've got enough TD's hired that I think they can eventually stumble across something worthwhile in design.

[Shrieker]

They'll fare worse. Just look at the tyre test thingy this season. Brawn does stuff and knows how to get away with it. Much like Newey has been doing stuff for years and gets away with it albeit technically.

[Pup]

It's impossible to say because Lowe is a complete unknown in a TP role. In fact, even his technical skill can only be inferred through his reputation and his tenure at McLaren, since their structure means that none of their cars can be credited to one person. Another unknown is who will take up the PR face of the team. Will it be Lowe? Wolf? Lauda? Lauda would be a disaster, imo; Lowe has little experience in those things; and Wolf has chosen to remain behind the scenes so far.

Brawn does stuff and knows how to get away with it.

Exactly my point in the other thread. In contrast, Lowe's experience is primarily in not getting away with things.

[GitanesBlondes]

It's impossible to say because Lowe is a complete unknown in a TP role. In fact, even his technical skill can only be inferred through his reputation and his tenure at McLaren, since their structure means that none of their cars can be credited to one person. Another unknown is who will take up the PR face of the team. Will it be Lowe? Wolf? Lauda? Lauda would be a disaster, imo; Lowe has little experience in those things; and Wolf has chosen to remain behind the scenes so far.

Brawn does stuff and knows how to get away with it.

Exactly my point in the other thread. In contrast, Lowe's experience is primarily in not getting away with things.

If Lowe is TP for the 2014 season, he'll probably wind up being the PR face of the team. He'll have no option as being TP of a high profile team almost ensures that. The only other possibility would be that they try to split the PR face from one person to three - Lowe, Rosberg, and Hamilton which wouldn't be at all outrageous. It's a good way of keeping the spotlight from burning on any one person too heavily.

With that said, it's still an unknown as to what will happen to MGP without Brawn as TP. But one has to consider he hasn't exactly set the world on fire during his tenure there with the one exception of the Pirelli tire test. I don't think they will fare any worse than they already have to date since the 2010-2013 period has been remarkably unexceptional for a works team that was fielding an evolution of world championship car. Had they been working off of a car that was unremarkable prior to purchase, it might have been more understandable.

[munudeges]

It will make no difference whatsoever.

[Pup]

It would also be impossible to separate the effect of Brawn's absence from those of the new formula.

[zeph]

^^^this^^^

Thread over

[marcush.]

for whatever reason ,Zetsche and Haug had the idea Brawn was instrumental in keeping the team a championship contender .
They were in for a surprise when contracts were signed and very early on it became clear that MGP was anything but what they had thought it would be .
Not in year one ,not in year two not in year three.
normal practise would be to buyout a team remove the old leaders and put your people in place -somehow Daimler thought they needed Brawn and even Fry -but for what?
In the end they now have :
Toto wolff
Niki lauda
Paddy lowe

Bell
willis
costa

Have i forgotten someone ?

I `m pretty sure the team would have fared A LOT better with other people taking responsibilities from the word go .I´d think Flav and Bell would have been a lot quicker and more efficient to turn the lot upside down ,maybe you´d hesitate to hire Flav but that would have ben the obvious choice if you want to broker good deals with Bernie .

i think Daimler has taken too long to take action BECAUSE they had Brawn at the helm .He sold the idea of a lean outfit to DAI and Haug so how can the same people suddenly say -oh sorry that was just sales talk ,it was obviously not going to work so please lets hire a few hundered extra people-tomorrow ,please unless you´d be prepared to make yourself look like amateurs?

As for wolff -he is actually very present in germany ,more than Ross ever was ...so with lauda AND Wolff Dai has doubled their presence in german tV easily.

[zeph]

I read an interview with Dieter Zetsche in late 2009, just after the purchase, and it was a much more practical acquisition than many here seem to think. He explained that the business case appealed to them, the fact that Brawn GP already ran on a low budget, how F1 was primarily a publicity platform for them, they were thinking long-term and aiming for 2014.

Of course they'd rather be winning and competing for the title, but I doubt anybody is seriously upset over the results. They wanted to buy McLaren and turn it into a works team. They got something a lot cheaper, and added key McLaren personnel in the process.

I'll probably be eating my words this time next year, but I think they are looking really good for 2014.

[Jersey Tom]

This is a really good question. I don't think there's any clear answer though. I'd speculate it won't be a dramatic impact - and certainly not in the short term. I'm sure he got to install some solid best practices and sharp department heads - which will drive most of the car development.

[marcush.]

This is a really good question. I don't think there's any clear answer though. I'd speculate it won't be a dramatic impact - and certainly not in the short term. I'm sure he got to install some solid best practices and sharp department heads - which will drive most of the car development.

come on JT -i just don´t believe you think Brawn is the inventor of best practises work guidelines .let´s face reality we all would struggle to name anything but his involvement in successful racing campaigns-If that´s enough ?

I bet there are a lot of shop floor level people out there who can claim similar achievements -being involved with multiple titles..the question is what does make Brawn a key player in achieving success?

Just look at Saubers rise when Key arrived -but they could sustain that level when he left-you thought it was morris who was key -but the car did not work - he left without a real replacement and voila -the team is up there again.....

I have the impression those big names do not mean much if the name is not Newey these days.