STUTTGART, Germany — Daimler has bought a majority 75.1 percent stake in Brawn GP and will run it as a Mercedes-Benz works team for the 2010 Formula 1 season, retaining Ross Brawn at the helm. The company will sell off its stake in the McLaren team, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, but continue to supply engines.
The German automaker will officially hold 45.1 percent of Brawn, while Daimler's largest stakeholder, Aabar Investments of Abu Dhabi, will hold 30 percent. Under the new arrangement, Daimler says it will cut Grand Prix spending by three-quarters, which will help the works team meet spending-cut demands from the ruling Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA).
Mercedes-Benz Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche announced that Brawn will be renamed the Silver Arrow Formula 1 team in honor of the 75th anniversary of the Benz Silver Arrow racecars.
No announcements were made about the fate of the drivers, in particular Jenson Button, who was rumored to be in salary disagreements with the Brawn team.
The Mercedes stake in McLaren, currently 40 percent, will be sold back to McLaren Group by 2011, but Mercedes will continue to sell its engines to the team in an arrangement that "could continue until 2015," Mercedes said today.
The 2009 season marked the 15th year in a Grand Prix season together for McLaren and Mercedes, and they competed in 256 races, won 60 times and held four world championships.
In a related development, McLaren said its new automotive division will be split off from the rest of McLaren, leaving McLaren Group as the parent company of the racing team, marketing, electronic systems and technology divisions and making McLaren Automotive a separate entity.
Inside Line says: Not an unexpected move now that McLaren is working on the MP4-12C, which directly competes with Mercedes' own supercar program. — Laura Sky Brown, Correspondent
Add A Comment »
cz75 says:
11:29 PM, 11/16/2009
Does this mean Button will now get a raise?