Mercedes - A Team in Transition

by dyrewolfe Thu 09 May 2013, 3:34 pm

A quick update on the personnel situation.

It seems Ross Brawn isn't going anywhere just yet. The imminent arrival of Paddy Lowe appears instead to be a clever bit of succession planning. Toto Wolff, not unreasonably, thinks that Ross Brawn now 59, is not the long-term future for the team and sees Lowe stepping in to replace him when Ross decides to call it a day.

Mercedes: Meet the men driving the revolution

Amazingly Mercedes already have 4 people in the team who have been technical directors...Paddy will be the 5th.

Under a revised leadership, which is still clearly in flux, Mercedes have started 2013 promisingly, taking pole positions in the last two races and with Hamilton sitting third in the championship after the first four grands prix.

But the shadow of Lowe looms large. Wolff has been at pains since his appointment to emphasise that Brawn remains team principal and retains his support. But for how long will Brawn keep that role?

Wolff makes it clear he has no personal designs on the 'team principal' title.

"I am a shareholder and that gives me the position I need to get things done," he says. "Then I have the Mercedes hat which gives me the possibility to come in from that angle and look after what Mercedes needs.

"I am perfectly happy to have that role. I don't need any title - you can call me number one cleaning lady if you want - but I do have knowledge of how to structure companies.

"I would be completely crazy to try to take something away from Ross: he has won 15 titles and who am I compared to that achievement? So I said to him: 'You look after the car; let me do the rest.' And that is the split - he is the engineer, I am the business guy."

Which is all very well, but if Brawn stays beyond this season, where does Lowe fit in?

“Ross is ambitious and motivated to win the world championship with Mercedes and I think we are seeing the fruits of this”

Toto Wolff on Ross Brawn
Wolff says Lowe is "very visible" because of his high-profile position, but will say little else on the man who will be at Mercedes in a very senior position at the start of next year.

He makes it clear there will be more changes when he admits he is "just trying to help, retaining the good people and maybe not retaining the not-so-good people, at the same time trying to find out who could strengthen the organisation, and who could maybe change his approach, or maybe change his function a little. It is a very fine, delicate thing you have to do".

Before joining Mercedes, Wolff had already earmarked Lowe as the man to take over the sporting and technical running of Williams. And it is clear Mercedes felt the opportunity of taking on someone so capable and well regarded was too good to miss.

Reading between the lines, a few things become clear.

While the initial intention was for Lowe to take over from Brawn, the situation, emphasis and timeframe have now shifted slightly.

Brawn's technical restructuring appears to be working. And, unless they are both Oscar-worthy actors, Brawn and Wolff are working well together and with mutual respect.

Brawn is 59 this year and is clearly coming to the end of his career, but wants Mercedes to continue to be successful after he moves on from his current position. A succession plan is part of that process.

He is involved in discussions over how to integrate Lowe and there is no desire to threaten or undermine his position.