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After three years of dismal performances, the Mercedes management has decided to restructure their team. The changes have been in the works for a while, with Lewis Hamilton coming in, along with former F1 legend Niki Lauda, who has taken up a management role.
Toto Wolff – now the executive director of Mercedes motor sport - is their latest recruit from Williams F1 team.
There have also been reports of Mercedes recruiting current Mclaren Technical director Paddy Lowe, but there isn’t any clarity on the situation as Mclaren refused to comment. Lowe has apparently agreed to join Mercedes but hasn’t signed the contract yet, so there is a small chance that he may stay at Mclaren. Here’s what Toto Wolff had to say about Mercedes hiring Paddy Lowe:
“I think he is a recognised person in the paddock who has been with McLaren for 15-20 years. In Formula 1, there’s always a lot of speculation about people.”
The planned restructure would also mean that Toto Wolff will become the team principal, with Paddy Lowe becoming the technical director. This eventually would mean that Ross Brawn and Nick Fry will have to leave the team or shift to lower ranks (something that seems unlikely).
Here’s what Wolff had to say about Ross Brawn:
“I admire what Ross has done but I need to understand the structure and what Ross has done,” he said.
“At this stage it would be foolish to come in and speak about replacing anybody.
“There is speculation which is coming up in some of the media.”
From the words of Toto Wolff, it doesn’t look like they have any plans of replacing Ross Brawn, but former Jordan team owner and current F1 analyst for BBC F1, Eddie Jordan claims that Toto Wolff will assume the role of team principal, while Paddy Lowe will be involved in a senior role.
It is also worth mentioning that the news of Schumacher returning from comeback in 2010, and Lewis Hamilton moving to Mercedes, was first rumoured by Eddie Jordan. So, the likelihood of Mercedes replacing Brawn is quite high.
