Daimler gains full control of Mercedes F1 team after buying out Middle Eastern stake

When rumors surfaced earlier this year regarding the desire of Abu Dhabi's Aabar Investments to completely shed its stake in Daimler, no one knew why and neither party would comment. The Middle Eastern investment firm took a 9.1-percent stake in Daimler in 2009, had dropped that to 3.1 percent earlier this year, then got rid of the remainder in October. Part of that original deal in 2009 was a 40-percent share in the Mercedes Formula One team, and Reuters has reported that Daimler just bought that back as well.

Pending approval from the regulatory authorities, the German company will fully control its F1 team (team principal Ross Brawn had owned 24.9-percent of the team but sold it to Mercedes in early 2011). The amount paid for the stake hasn't been disclosed.

Daimler can now focus on getting the team where it wishes to be, which is not down in fifth place fighting with Sauber and with less than half the points of fourth-placed Lotus. The team rebranded itself Mercedes-AMG this year, has committed to Formula One's Concorde Agreement until 2020 and signed Lewis Hamilton for three years. It will want to begin extracting added value for the hundreds of millions of dollars it has already invested and the hundreds of millions more it knows are required.