Shining Star: Mercedes to throw its weight behind Brawn GP?
At this past weekend's Spanish Grand Prix, the Brawn cars didn't just beat McLaren – they lapped them. With both teams running the same Mercedes engines, and reigning champion Lewis Hamilton piloting the lapped McLaren, it was clear that Brawn is simply running a better car. Anyone watching the race had to be wondering what the corporate big-wigs at Mercedes were thinking as the Brawn cars crossed the finish line a full lap ahead of the McLaren. But we can stop wondering now.
According to the latest reports, Mercedes is considering throwing more weight behind the championship-leading Brawn team. Or at least jumping on the bandwagon. The customer engine deal between the German automaker and the former Honda team doesn't include any branding on the BGP 001 chassis' livery – which remains conspicuously light on sponsorship altogether – but that could change as Mercedes is keen to cash in on the success of the team to which it's selling engines. Benz motorsport chief Norbert Haug was quick to emphasize that any rapprochement to Brawn GP doesn't reflect on its relationship with McLaren, but with that partnership constantly in jeopardy, you can't help but wonder now if Mercedes would be saying the same if McLaren was leading and Brawn was marking the back.
[Source: F1-Live | Image: Paul Crock/AFP/Getty]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Mr.Oak 8:33AM (5/13/2009)
Saw that one coming a from a mile off. It was either that or get Vettel in a McLaren. Oh Well, Still think LH could have a stellar career in LeMans series or ALMS. Get away from the idiocy that is F1.
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Javanese 1:24AM (5/14/2009)
Yeah, merc have been beotchin since forever that they cant buy mclaren and rename em mercedesf1 ala BMW. They can easily buy brawn for pennies and supply customer engine to mclaren.
McL seems to lost their edge when the old guards retired. Same story at ferrari but they seems to be managing better.
I say buy brawn and rebadge em to Mercedes F1 team.
pmiddle5 5:13AM (5/14/2009)
I dont think Brawn wants to sell at all. He has said he wishes to be the next "Williams" aka a private ran championship winning team
ack154 8:48AM (5/13/2009)
I rather like the clean look of the Brawn cars... I hope they don't gay them all up with more sponsors and crap.
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Rob Bourne 8:55AM (5/13/2009)
It appears it's already starting.
The Virgin Galactic logo is fine, but Terminator Salvation?
/rolleyes
Schlong 10:46AM (5/13/2009)
Gay them up? Are you in ninth or tenth grade?
ack154 11:04AM (5/13/2009)
Said the guy who's username is Schlong? Seriously?
jasonzo6 1:02PM (5/13/2009)
haha, nice one ack154!
jacob Wener 8:52AM (5/13/2009)
I should preface this comment with the fact that I'm and avid F1 fan, and a "Lew-natic" as well...
However- This season confirms to me that driver talent has clearly taken a back seat to technical development as a means to win races. Brawn came to the table with a stellar car, and as good of a driver as Button is, it had been a long while since he was winning races.
hmm. Or was the Honda just THAT bad?
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Rob Bourne 8:59AM (5/13/2009)
imo Honda were just that bad.
They were too busy gimping their cars in the name of 'Green'. that said, they always said they were dropping the environmentally friendly approach for 2009 and that their car would be a serious contender.
Turns out, with a change of engine and some tweaks, it was. I do wonder how it would have fared with Honda still behind them though. Oh well, we'll never find out - I'm just glad Button/Barichello are getting some good fortune for all the crippling loyalty they had with Honda.
spookthehamster 9:07AM (5/13/2009)
If they were still running with a Honda engine, they would be nowhere. Estimates from the team have put the advantage of the Merc engine at over 0.5s.
The Honda engine (like all Honda road cars) was tuned for PEAK performance. It gave impressive peak numbers but across the rev range was a total dog.
Having a good car has always been the #1 factor in F1, only this year it's teams you wouldn't expect to have the good cars.
Metar 9:32AM (5/13/2009)
I wonder what your sources are, spookthehamster, because it's nonsense.
First off, Honda's F1 engine is just like every other - a 2.4l V8 running up to 18kRPM. The torque and power curves look just like every other F1 engine - the differences are minuscule - and saying it's tuned for peak power like the roadcars and therefore slow: Of course it is, every F1 engine (and almost every other race-engine) is built for peak power at a relatively narrow (3000RPM) band - from 15,000RPM to 18,000RPM is where these cars produce their power.
The only difference is that the Honda engine was 20-30HP down on the others in 2008, because they actually stopped development when the freeze was instated. So if anything, your point is even more wrong because it gave a lower peak output than the others.
In today's F1, the difference between the engines is marginal. When Adrian Newey, designer for Red Bull and Toro Rosso, had to pick which one gets the Ferrari and which one the Renault engine, he said, he failed to see a real advantage for either.
spookthehamster 10:28AM (5/13/2009)
Do you really think I'd say who my sources are? I wouldn't post things like that unless I had real reason to believe that they are true, so I'm not going to go around saying who told me.
Feel free to believe what the press gets told and what gets reported, but keep in mind that F1 is all about publicity. It's much better publicity for a team to say "Our engine was bad because we played by the rules and everyone else didn't" than it is to say "Our engine was bad because we tuned it wrong".
Also remember that Adrian Newey is an aerodynamicist, not an engine designer.
jasonzo6 1:01PM (5/13/2009)
Metar got pwned.
Redline 6:03PM (5/13/2009)
Just goes to show that F1 is a TEAM sport, it's not all about the driver.
ederer62 9:00AM (5/13/2009)
I hope they don't call it merger of equals, M&B will get rid of anything worth keeping, make the cars ugly, they will break down every race and then they'll blame the fans for not liking the "high technology" that doesn't work.
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Mike 9:00AM (5/13/2009)
Every driver in F1 are top of the class. They did not get into F1 by chance. The teams with the best equipment win. All the drivers had to be winning in the racing before a F1 team even looked at them. The gear and crews play a larger roll in winning then the driver. The driver is more marketing IMO
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hyundaifans.com 9:22AM (5/13/2009)
+1. If Sutil had a better car, he would be on the podium regularly.
ack154 9:46AM (5/13/2009)
I'm really hoping Sutil has a good run at Monaco like last year... and that someone doesn't ram him from behind and f-up his race.
Yes, I mean that figuratively and literally. He got totally shafted last year.
why not the LS2LS7? 12:39PM (5/13/2009)
That's not completely true.
For example:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Yoong
F1 drivers in lower-level teams are expect to bring a lot of money with them and sometimes, the driver who brings more money is chosen over a better driver.
And I cannot agree that the driver is marketing in F1 since F1 doesn't even really market its drivers well.