I'm confused.

McLaren - use Merc engines.

Brawn - will now be owned by Merc - lets call them Merc GP for now.

So, currently, Lewis at McLaren and Jensen at Merc GP.

How does it make Lewis and Jensen teammates? They're in, currently, different teams.

Unless all the references to Mercedes are ACTUALLY to McLaren Mercedes in which case, hasn't McLaren just amalgamated Brawn?

 

It seems you may be confused. It doesn't make them teammates... yet...

There will be two separate teams, "Mercedes GP" (ex-Brawn) and Vodafone McLaren Mercedes. The rumour, at least on this side of the North Sea, would see a driver line-up for Mercedes GP of Nico Rosberg and, possibly, Timo Glock or Nick Heidfeld and Vodafone McLaren Mercedes with a driver line-up of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.

The rumours in Germany are, apparently, that Mercedes GP want to keep Button - they would value having #1 on the front of the Silver Arrows... that would leave McLaren looking for a driver; Raikkonen is still an outside bet.

It is known that Button was in Woking last Friday and it is rumoured that McLaren have offered him twice the retainer that he was offered by Brawn GP (whether that changes with Mmercedes involvement is not clear).

Some are saying that Button would be mad to move but he may know more than us and is of the opinion that McLaren may have a more competitive car than Mercedes-GP next year. The issue, aside from money, is that testing is very limited and Button, if he went to McLaren, would only be able to test for about 5 days...

 

does this mean if merc stop being any good for a bit,they will run off with the ball like someother german f1 team?

 

I'd have thought Rosberg and Button is a much stronger driver pairing than Rosberg/Heidfeld or Rosberg/Glock. I don't really buy the idea of Mercedes wanting a German super-team (especially not when it's based in England), or McLaren wanting a British super-team. It's more likely that they'll want the best two drivers they can get and with not inconsiderable resources won't be shy of paying a higher price.

 

It seems to be in the German modus operadi in motorsport...

BMW in F1 - they couldn't win so went home with the ball
Audi in ralying - when everyone else exploited the Group B regulations and the Quattro became less and less competitive
Audi in the BTCC - when the advantage that the quattro cars enjoyed was eroded (partly by the regulations) - they disappeared quite quickly
Audi in sports cars - threatening to pull out if their new LMP1 car was outlawed for having a (thinly disguised) F1 style front wing
OPEL in the DTM - whe they could barely win

I'm sure that there are other examples I can't think of...

 

I'm not saying anything is fact merely what I have heard.

I don't doubt that Mercedes would like to keep Button but perhaps not at any price.

As far as I know Heidfeld has a very good reputation in F1 in terms of testing, engineering feedback, racing and is generally considered to be mechanically sympathetic... he would not be a bad choice as number 2 to some young and inexperienced driver like Rosberg.

The Glock thing I understand a little less...

 

Said on the news Mercedes GP or whatever they will be called would be looking for a German driver line-up.
If I heard correctly Jenson was negotiating with Brawn for £8mill, whereas Lewis is on £18million.. Either he more than doubles his target salary with this move or he becomes the B driver - world champion or not

 

A little OT but an interesting aside in one of the stories:

“Ever since Aabar became the largest shareholder in Daimler AG, the cooperation between our two organisations has been exemplary, and we have already co-invested inTesla. Aabar is confident that further successes will follow in this arena."

 

i heard the new team are being called chrysler!

 

My Brawn GP Champions Polo shirt arrived today!