Rosberg, Mercedes and Brawn...

[John S]

WOT THE DICKENS!  Surely this is not true?  

The source of this piece is not totally reliable but it certainly puts the cat amongst the pigeons so to speak.

Nico Rosberg will switch to Brawn Mercedes next season if reports from Blick prove accurate.

In an article by veteran journalist Roger Benoit, it is claimed that Mercedes will allow its contract with McLaren to lapse at the end of 2011, and by then the German manufacturer will own 75% of Brawn GP.

Blick reports that the Brawn buyout is in conjunction with Arab partners, and the Brackley-built cars feature prominent Mercedes branding next year.

The publication also claims that Rosberg is in fact not heading to McLaren - the British team that is currently 40% owned by Mercedes - but to Brawn, despite chief executive Nick Fry saying recently he was happy to keep Rubens Barrichello alongside Jenson Button.  
 
Rosberg said coyly last week that although still with multiple options for next year, he had now at least honed in on one in particular.

"Nico is an option," Mercedes' motorsport vice president Norbert Haug said on Tuesday. "He is a candidate."

E.A. © CAPSIS International
Source: GMM

[Scott]

Wow - that would really shake up the world, wouldn't it.  Not so much the Nico move, but the Merc move.  I wonder why they are abandoning Mclaren.  Too much hot water over the past couple of years?  Brawn probably costs less going forward than it does to maintain the Mclaren centre, but is there going to be a Brawn Mercedes model down the road?

I keep getting blindsided by F1.   

[FW14B]

If true this would be a massive surprise, but then it could be that Mercedes would have far more imput in the decision making in Brawn than they get in McLaren.  There have often been rumours of a split, but they never turned out to be true.  As for Nico... I would not be surprised if he went to a Mercedes backed Brawn.

[Monty]

First we must remember that Blick never lets the facts get in the way of a good story
I'm no betting man but I would put a put my Zimbabwe dollar down against Mercedes moving away from Maclaren. Maca's Head Quarters is used almost as much by Mercedes as Maclaren themselves. It must be a fantastic Corporate showcase even for a company like Mercedes. The two companies have been linked for many years and have enjoyed massive success. I think the only reason Mercedes would split from Maclaren was if they (Mercedes) decided to have their own team.

[Scott]

If the report is true and makes the point that they are going to won 75% of Brawn by 2011, then I would suspect that hey will have just that.  Only difference is that they would have Brawn on staff watching over things and keeping his 25% as incentive to make sure things run well. 

Having 40% of Mclaren but no voting rights or final say in the running of things must have irked them the whole time.  They have been powerless (which is probably just as well, honestly) to change any direction Mclaren tries to take.

As much as I agree with you about the Bild, I wonder if there isn't some truth to this one.