18 Years in the Making - By Paul_Murtagh

After weeks of speculation, Mercedes have announced on Monday that they are to buy a 75.1% controlling stake in Brawn GP, meaning that for the first time since 1955 there will be a full works Mercedes GP team in F1. It was an expected announcement in many ways, but still a shock to many. But this decision has been 18 years in the making, with the original decision scuppered by an unusual move.

 

Back in 1991, Mercedes were dominating the world of Sportscars along with Peter Sauber. They had won the Le Mans 24 hours, and were on the brink of winning the World Sportscar Championship with their young drivers Karl Wendlinger, Heinz Harald Frentzen and a certain Michael Schumacher. But the German marquee had bigger plans in mind, and was preparing themselves for a full works effort in Formula 1 from 1992 onwards. Part of this plan was to get their young drivers F1 experience before this full-on assault on F1, and Wendlinger was allowed to race for March at the end of 1991, and Schumacher was funded by Mercedes for a Jordan drive. Mercedes had even went as far as designing a race car for 1992, with the Sauber team in charge of running the operation. But things were about to unravel for the manufacturer because of an unexpected source.

Mercedes had bought the electrical firm AEG back in 1985 as part of its global development to further their technology, and by 1991 the company had hit trouble and were on the brink of bankruptcy, and Mercedes could not sufficiently prove to its parent company Daimler that they would be better of investing their money in a full-blown Mercedes F1 team instead of trying to rescue a struggling company. Therefore the F1 project was shelved and the money was diverted to help save AEG, which went bankrupt in 1997.

 

The rest as they say is history. Schumacher raced for Jordan for one race before moving to firstly Benetton then Ferrari, winning 91 race and 7 world championships. Wendinger meanwhile did race for Sauber Mercedes in F1, but with Sauber being the parent company and Mercedes becoming an engine supplier only. Mercedes then moved on to become engine supplier to McLaren, winning three drivers world championships and one constructors championship, before winning both titles last season with Brawn. Mercedes will be hoping that this full-on charge at F1 will not end up like the aborted effort in 1992.

Comments

[flood1]

I guess this sort of flies in the face of all the theories and opinions about manufacturer involvement in the sport. Honda, BMW, and Toyota have all left and created may questions about whether F1 was viable from a manufacturers point of view. It seems as if Merc has decided to dig in and make a long term committment beyond that of engine supplier.

Bravo!