Mercedes takes control of Brawn GP!

Brawn GP announced in an official statement that the team has been acquired by the Daimler AG group. Ross Brawn’s team will therefore be called Mercedes Grand Prix starting from 2010. After the withdrawal of Honda, Toyota, and BMW, it is with surprise that an automobile manufacturer enters F1: Mercedes-Benz.

For a few years, rumors had been intensifying about Mercedes’s desire to buy a Formula 1 team, separating from other partnerships. The German group announced that it had taken control of the 2009 World Champion team Brawn GP, thereby selling the 40% stake in McLaren it had held until then.

It was Ron Dennis, the new director of the McLaren group, who first broke the news. It was later confirmed by statements from Mercedes-Benz and Brawn GP. The 2009 World Champion team even posted an online photomontage of a completely gray BGP001, marked with the Mercedes star.

The German brand will thus hold 75.1% of the capital of Brawn GP next year, renaming the team Mercedes Grand Prix (MGP): « Mercedes will compete in the 2010 F1 World Championship with its own team, » confirms Dr. Dieter Zetsche, the head of Mercedes Cars.

« The action was made possible thanks to the intervention of our investment partner Aabar, who bought 30% of the shares. Daimler AG will hold the remaining 45.1%, and Brawn GP the rest with Ross Brawn, Nick Fry, and other team members. The goal is truly to create a Mercedes-Benz team. »

Dieter Zietsche also confirmed Ross Brawn’s position as the team manager. Just like with Brawn GP, the 2010 season should not present a team very different from the world champion one: Ross Brawn will continue to be the director and we will maintain his decision-making powers. Just like the engine subsidiary ‘Mercedes Benz High Performance Engines’, the new Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix team will be co-led with Mercedes-Benz Motorsport. It’s Norbert Haug, as everyone knows, who will be in this coordinator position.

On the infrastructure side, the team will remain unchanged at Brackley. No staff reshuffle is expected. The team has already been reshaped twice after Honda’s departure and during the 2009 season.