A Daimler shareholder has called on the German car giant to pull its works Mercedes team out of formula one.

Fund manager Ingo Speich, of the Daimler shareholder Union Investment, said at Daimler’s annual general meeting that he is disappointed Mercedes has lost ground to road car rivals Audi and BMW.

“Mercedes is no longer the measure of all things in the premium sector,” he is quoted as saying by Die Presse.

Speich referred to “a lost decade” for Daimler, and called on the company to follow BMW’s recent lead and pull out of formula one.

His speech reportedly received applause from other shareholders.

Mercedes is the biggest formula one team yet to follow the likes of Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull in signing a new Concorde Agreement beyond 2012.

Ferrari’s new deal for the 2013 Concorde Agreement reportedly involves a $50 million annual fee.

It is believed the Italian team has now finalised its commercial agreement with Bernie Ecclestone.

The same is reportedly true for fellow top teams McLaren and Red Bull, whose annual additional fee is, according to German newsmagazine Der Spiegel, $35m apiece.

Ecclestone wanted to announce the conclusion of successful Concorde Agreement negotiations in Malaysia, but major teams including Mercedes and Williams were yet to sign up.

Instead, the F1 chief executive released a statement saying deals have been done with ‘the majority’ of the teams.

Mercedes, in particular, is more than unhappy.

“It can not be,” a Daimler insider is quoted as saying, “that transparency from our business partners is lacking regarding a contract through 2020.”

Mercedes could quit formula one or challenge Bernie Ecclestone in court, after it emerged top rivals Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull have agreed new commercial deals.

With the FOTA alliance crumbling, F1 chief executive Ecclestone announced on Saturday that he has agreed terms with the “majority” of teams.

In addition to the three top teams, it is believed Lotus, Toro Rosso, Sauber and Force India have also signed up.

That leaves Mercedes and Williams apparently yet to agree, while it is believed the three bottom teams Caterham, Marussia and HRT have not even seen a copy of the new Concorde Agreement.

Mercedes would not comment publicly.

“We would like to ask for your understanding that our team currently has nothing to say on this matter,” said a spokesman.

Behind the scenes, however, high-level sources close to the Brackley based team admitted they are unhappy that the terms of the deal heavily favour the top three teams.

One bonus, for example, is for teams who have not changed their name.

Media outlets including PA Sport and London’s Telegraph were told by the sources that the Stuttgart marque could challenge Ecclestone’s methods against European Union competition law.

Or the carmaker and engine supplier could simply quit F1.

“It is understood the carmaker and parent company Daimler are prepared to play hardball”, wrote Tom Cary in the Telegraph, referring specifically to European laws involving the abuse of a dominant position.

Other authoritative publications, also apparently briefed behind the scenes by Mercedes, referred specifically to the same laws.

On the record, Mercedes’ competition vice-president Norbert Haug said in Malaysia: “I’m not sure who has signed. We’ve nothing currently to say.”

 Daimler chairman Dieter Zetsche on Thursday indicated he would like Michael Schumacher to extend his Mercedes GP contract beyond 2012.
Seven time world champion Schumacher’s existing three year contract, dating back to his decision to return to F1 in 2010 after a three-year sabbatical, runs out this year.

Zetsche is quoted by Seddeutsche Zeitung newspaper as saying Mercedes is fully committed to formula one, with an “engagement for the long term”.

As for involving 43-year-old Schumacher in those plans for 2013, Zetsche admitted it was “an attractive possibility”.

“He is still a motor sports icon,” he added.

Schumacher said at the Jerez test this week that while he might not have a title-winning car this year, Mercedes will build one in the future.

“We have to build our way there. I’m confident we can do that, in future, but let’s take it step by step,” said the German.

As for the possibility of a new contract, Schumacher answered: “I never gave any prognosis about my career. The right time will come to discuss my future.”

Targeting the world championship in 2012 is not realistic for Mercedes GP, according to team boss Ross Brawn.
Daimler chairman Dieter Zetsche admitted last week he is not happy with the performance of the Brackley based team, currently a distant fourth in the points standings behind Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari.

“Our intention is to be better every year and it is clear that in this sense we cannot be satisfied,” Brawn told Spain’s El Pais newspaper.

“Last year we were fourth and we are again. The next step should be to fight for third or second, and then go for the title in 2013,” he added.

“You need to be going forward and when you do not, you have to know why and to change your strategy.”

He said he is not worried about Mercedes possibly losing patience.

“Mercedes knows what kind of challenge competing in formula one is and that’s why they want to prove they are capable of meeting the challenge and succeeding,” said Brawn.

“It is the most competitive and complicated championship and if winning it was easy, it would not be interesting.”

But Brawn warned that with only a couple of minor changes to the regulations for 2012, Red Bull is likely to once again set the pace.

“If you’re winning, as Red Bull are now, that is the scenario that you want,” said the Briton. “When the rules do not change there are fewer possibilities of having different interpretations of them.”

Brawn therefore said he doubts there will be “any revolutionary ideas” seen on next year’s F1 grid.

Meanwhile, he acknowledged that he was not personally responsible for the ground-breaking ‘double diffuser’ idea that was credited for Brawn GP’s title win of 2009.

“It was a Japanese engineer from (former owners) Honda,” said Brawn. “He presented it, we analysed it and found it to be viable.”

Mercedes has reportedly targeted ousted Ferrari technical director Aldo Costa.
In May, as Ferrari grappled with its new 150 Italia car, the famous Maranello based team said the Italian had stepped down.

It emerged a few days ago that Costa has left the carmaker completely but is on what is known in F1 as “gardening leave” until the end of the year.

The specialist Italian magazine Autosprint reports that Mercedes, headed by another former Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn, has targeted Costa.

We reported recently that the Brackley based team is on a recruitment drive to boost its staff numbers to the height of big three teams Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari.

Autosprint said Brawn told Daimler chairman Dieter Zetsche at the Nurburgring that Mercedes’ struggles in 2010 and 2011 have been due in part to the team’s comparatively small size.

“So he (Brawn) received the go-ahead for the recruitment campaign,” said the report.

Mercedes is looking to boost its F1 staff numbers by 100 people, according to German newspaper Bild-Zeitung.
The report said the German marque’s experiment at trying to succeed again with Brawn GP’s modest head-count of 450 at the Brackley headquarters has failed.

Bild said all the other top teams, including Red Bull (525 people), Ferrari and McLaren (both 550) have significantly higher staff numbers.

The news that Mercedes has embarked on a major recruitment drive for its F1 team follows the visit to the Nurburgring last weekend of Daimler chairman Dieter Zetsche.

And team boss Ross Brawn was quoted as saying: “The potential of this car has been exhausted.”

Bild said Mercedes GP is advertising for 39 jobs, with several of those positions “to be filled twice or even three times”.

Michael Schumacher has received the full backing of Mercedes’ top brass Dieter Zetsche.
Zetsche, the chairman of the German carmaker’s parent Daimler, was responding to renewed calls for 42-year-old Schumacher to return to retirement after disappointing performances since he returned to F1 last year.

But the seven time world champion had a better weekend in Monaco, where he won five times in his initial career, and Zetsche said Schumacher still has time to show he is in top form.

“Last year we gave him a bad car,” Zetsche told Bild newspaper. “So it was difficult for him to come back like that and prove himself again.

“I think we will see some positive surprises this year,” he added

Mercedes is set to take complete control of the Brackley based F1 team that bears its name.

The German carmaker took over the team last year but Ross Brawn and his partners retained 24.9 per cent of the shares, the German magazine Auto Motor und Sport said.

The report said a deal to make Mercedes and Daimler shareholder AABAR the 100 per cent owner will be in place by March’s Bahrain season opener.

The Brackley based team began life in the late 90s as British American Racing (BAR), later becoming Honda who pulled out of F1 at the end of the 2008 season.

Auto Motor und Sport said Mercedes intends to keep team boss Brawn on board as an employee.

According to speculation in F1 circles, McLaren could be set to drop most of the silver from its car livery for the 2011 season.
Last year, after the shareholding split with Mercedes was announced, it was rumoured then that Woking based McLaren might adopt a substantially new livery — given Mercedes GP’s plans for a similarly silver car.

Team boss Martin Whitmarsh said then: “It (the silver) is a McLaren brand colour; it works for our partners and us.”

Mercedes, however, ramped up its ‘Silver Arrows’ rhetoric throughout 2010 and now remains only an engine supplier to McLaren, with the shareholding ever diluted.

Indeed, this year, Daimler’s stake is scheduled to have been entirely bought back by McLaren.

A hint about McLaren’s branding and livery plans for 2011 is in the new official merchandising range for the forthcoming season.

For example, gone are the silver team caps of 2010, replaced by mainly black ones for 2011. The team crew and management-style shirts and jackets are also black.

According to a rumour in the Abu Dhabi paddock, Dieter Zetsche is not happy with the outcome of the 2010 title race.

Zetsche is the chairman of Mercedes’ carmaker parent Daimler, and he is apparently uncomfortable with Red Bull becoming this season’s constructors’ champion, French commentator Jean-Louis Moncet wrote in his Auto Plus column.

The German, uncomfortable that this year’s manufacturers’ title has been won by the maker of an energy drink, reportedly wants the FIA to change the official title of the “World Constructors’ Championship”.

Moncet wrote: “I seem to remember that among the reasons that drove BMW to leave F1 was that defeats by Mercedes, Toyota or Renault are one thing — but Red Bull!”

The design of Mercedes’ 2011 car is already in the wind tunnel and “more innovative” that its disappointing predecessor.

That is the claim of the German marque’s Norbert Haug, one day after team boss Ross Brawn admitted the W01 was designed too conservatively amid Brawn GP’s 2009 title challenge.

“The prototype of the new car is in the wind tunnel,” Haug told Bild am Sonntag newspaper. “It will be more innovative, the result of taking more risks.

“The development of the current car is finished, so our engineers have more time to perhaps pursue some ideas that initially might seen outlandish.

“At the same time, our competitors are designing their new cars for 2011 whilst still fighting hard for this world championship,” added Haug.

In the same interview, the German also scotched reports he is at loggerheads with Brawn.

Working in the same office as his British colleague in the team’s offices at Yeongam, Haug insisted: “Does it look as though we cannot work with one another?”

However, much more pressing is the speculation that – at the end of another disappointing season next year – the team’s parent Daimler might pull the plug.

“Absolutely not,” Haug insists. “We certainly do not intend to be in the midfield, but no one at Mercedes is talking about quitting.”

Norbert Haug has once again played down rumours of discord within the Mercedes GP camp.

Two weeks ago at Monza, speculation swept the Italian paddock that Michael Schumacher could follow team boss Ross Brawn out of the team at the end of 2010.

The rumours, hinting that the initial indications are that Mercedes could have another difficult season in 2011, claimed that Brawn and carmaker Mercedes-Benz’s motor sport chief Haug are at odds over the direction of the Brackley based team.

“We have full confidence in Ross,” Haug insisted in Singapore, according to Turun Sanomat newspaper.

“Work for the future is going well,” added the German.  “It is normal that rumours come and go.

“I’ve heard rumours about Michael, about me and about Ross.  When I say no, I mean no, and when I say yes, I mean yes.

“My answer is no; there are no cracks in the relationship,” insisted Haug.

He also insisted that the commitment of Mercedes-Benz and its parent Daimler is not wavering.

“The automotive industry has gone through a crisis, and several other manufacturers have left F1,” said Haug.

“Mercedes is committed to the future of this sport.  We do not yet have a winning team, but we are putting in the work to become a winning team,” he added.

Mercedes GP looks set to secure another sponsor.

The German source sponsors.de reports that Allianz, the Munich based global insurance group, will soon be added to the livery of the Silver Arrows.

Previously, the company invested about EUR 10 million in formula one through its trackside sponsorship programme, in addition to a 750,000 sponsor deal with Williams.

But the new partnership between Allianz and Mercedes in formula one makes sense, given the strategic agreement signed with the German carmaker’s parent Daimler earlier this year.

“Daimler has been working together with Allianz for more than 80 years now,” the chairman of Daimler Insurance Services said in February.

According to well-known French commentator Jean-Louis Moncet, a notable meeting involving the Mercedes GP team took place on Monday.

Moncet wrote in his Auto Plus blog that the video conference would involve the Stuttgart based Daimler chairman Dieter Zetsche, and the Brackley based team’s Ross Brawn, Norbert Haug, Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg.

He said the “various statements by members of the team to the media” would be discussed, even though a Mercedes spokesman rubbished the report.

And although Mercedes insists the comments were taken out of context, Moncet could be referring to Rosberg’s quoted claims about being frustrated by a lack of development progress.

There have also been hints from Rosberg, Schumacher and Brawn that development of the 2010 car could be stopped in favour of focusing on next year’s project.

But in a team statement late last week, those figures insisted the team is still working hard on the W01.

“It’s been tough for us over the last few races but we are working hard to improve and I am confident we will get there,” said Rosberg.

However, a headline in the German daily Die Welt said “Expectation and reality are far apart at Mercedes”.

The article included Zetsche’s warning of early this year when he said that “If there are clear indications that we can use our money more effectively outside of formula one, we will have to take a new decision”.

And former Jordan and Jaguar designer Gary Anderson said: “The people around Brawn understand the car they have built for 2010 in the same way they understood it in the second half of last year.”

But Bernie Ecclestone thinks Mercedes needs more time to get up to speed with its own team.

“Of course it takes a bit of time to revive a myth, but I am sure they are on the right track and that the Silver Arrows will come back to full strength,” said the F1 chief executive.

(GMM)