Except, as ever in Formula One, it is not as simple as that. Brawn may have
sounded relaxed but not everyone was convinced; some believe Brawn has seen
off an attempted coup; some that he is using his contract as a bargaining
chip and Mercedes have called his bluff by lining up a replacement; some
that he is still on the way out.
Whatever the truth, most are agreed that there is the potential for unrest
within the senior management at Mercedes.
The arrival of three-time world champion Niki Lauda as non-executive chairman
towards the end of last season, and his prominent role in negotiations first
with F1
chief Bernie Ecclestone over the new Concorde Agreement, then with Hamilton
over his switch from McLaren, led many to conclude that he holds the real
power at Mercedes F1.
Combined with the arrival of Wolff this week, it certainly feels as if the
Austrians have parked their tanks on the Brackley lawns.
Perhaps significantly, both Lauda and Wolff hold equity in the team, 10 per
cent and 30 per cent respectively, and one school of thought is that they
may be gearing up to take it over if Mercedes-Benz decide to pull out at
some point down the line, as has been rumoured.
Nick Fry, Mercedes F1’s chief executive and a former shareholder in Brawn GP
before it was sold to Mercedes, has already been as good as reassigned in
the reshuffle.
Asked if he would still have a job, Brawn replied: “I hope so, yes. For quite
a while.” Brawn added that he did not believe that Ecclestone – with whom he
has “not always seen eye to eye” – had any hand in recent rumours and leaks.
“I would be very surprised. The thing Bernie wants is a strong Mercedes.
Hopefully he recognises I am an asset to the team.”
Hamilton certainly does. The 28-year-old said he had texted Brawn as soon as
he heard the rumours and was relieved to receive assurances.
“I’m fairly relaxed [about the situation],” Hamilton said. “There’s a great
atmosphere here, a great spirit. The guys here seem hungrier than any group
of people I’ve seen before.”
His sole focus now, he added, was on swelling Brackley’s trophy cabinet. “I
walked in and maybe they keep trophies elsewhere, but they have that one
small cabinet,” he smiled. “This morning I came in and thought to myself: ‘I
want to build this cabinet to fill this whole hall’.”
It may be a bumpy ride.