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Mercedes buys Brawn F1 team

Mercedes on Monday bought a controlling stake in Formula One world champions Brawn GP in a move which is likely to see Jenson Button join McLaren next season.

Published: 16 November 2009 14:38 CET
Mercedes buys Brawn F1 team
Mercedes will still supply motors to McLaren. Photo: DPA

The German car giant, which has taken a 75 percent stake in Ross Brawn’s team, will be re-branded Mercedes GP, Dieter Zetsche, chairman of parent company Daimler AG and head of Mercedes-Benz, announced.

Team principal Ross Brawn, who took over the British-based outfit after former owners Honda quit the sport at the end of 2008, will remain in his role.

Brawn it was who masterminded the team’s spectacular rise from the dark days of Honda’s pull-out to both the constructors and drivers’ world titles. However, the future of his drivers is uncertain.

The new outfit are expected to plump for Nico Rosberg as their number one driver – a move that would be popular in Germany – with his countryman Nick Heidfeld his likely partner.

Neither driver has been confirmed although on Sunday Mercedes Sports boss Norbert Haug revealed he was attempting to secure Heidfeld, who has driven for BMW since 2006.

“We are speaking with Nick Heidfeld as well,” Haug said. “Mercedes-Benz supports the idea of signing an experienced and capable German driver. There is however no reason to finalise the driver situation too hastily.”

Newly crowned drivers champion Button, who visited McLaren’s headquarters last Friday, is widely tipped to sign for the British team to drive in an all-English partnership with 2008 champion Lewis Hamilton next year.

As part of Monday’s deal Daimler AG has given up its 40 percent stake in McLaren but Mercedes will continue to supply engines to the team for the next six seasons.

“It’s a win-win situation, both for McLaren and Daimler,” McLaren chairman Ron Dennis commented.

Since clinching the title in Brazil Button has been in protracted contract negotiations with Brawn and reportedly turned down a £4-million offer.

That represents a £1-million rise on his 2009 salary after taking a £5-million cut in pay when Ross Brawn took over from Honda. Button’s 2009 teammate Rubens Barichello this month signed to drive for Williams.

The purchase of the Brackley-based Brawn team was funded by Mercedes’ parent company, Daimler AG, and the Abu Dhabi investment fund Aabar, Daimler’s largest shareholder.

In a statement Ross Brawn said: “Brawn GP has been through an incredible journey over the last 12 months. From fighting for our survival to forging a strong relationship with Mercedes…winning both the constructors and drivers world championships, and now accepting Aaber and Daimler’s offer to buy our team which will secure its future.”

He said that all senior management at the team would remain in their jobs.

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CARS

From lizards to water, eco-bumps snag Tesla’s giant Berlin car factory

In the green forest outside Berlin, a David and Goliath-style battle is playing out between electric carmaker Tesla and environmental campaigners who want to stop its planned "gigafactory".

Published: 18 April 2021 15:11 CEST
From lizards to water, eco-bumps snag Tesla's giant Berlin car factory
Tesla's gigafactory outside the doors of Berlin. dpa-Zentralbild | Patrick Pleul

“When I saw on TV that the Tesla factory was going to be built here, I couldn’t believe it,” said Steffen Schorch, driving his trusty German-made car.

The 60-year-old from Erkner village in the Berlin commuter belt has become one of the faces of the fight against the US auto giant’s first European factory, due to open in the Brandenburg region near Berlin in July.

“Tesla needs far too much water, and the region does not have this water,” said the environmental activist, a local representative of the Nabu ecologist campaign group.

Announced in November 2019, Tesla’s gigafactory project was warmly welcomed as an endorsement of the “Made in Germany” quality mark – but was immediately met with opposition from local residents.

Demonstrations, legal action, open letters – residents have done everything in their power to delay the project, supported by powerful
environmental campaign groups Nabu and Gruene Liga.

Tesla was forced to temporarily suspend forest clearing last year after campaigners won an injunction over threats to the habitats of resident lizards and snakes during their winter slumber.

READ MORE: Is Germany’s Volkswagen becoming ‘the new Tesla’ as it ramps up e-vehicle production?

And now they have focused their attention on water consumption – which could reach up to 3.6 million cubic metres a year, or around 30 percent of the region’s available supply, according to the ZDF public broadcaster.

The extra demand could place a huge burden on a region already affected by water shortages and hit by summer droughts for the past three years.

Local residents and environmentalists are also concerned about the impact on the wetlands, an important source of biodiversity in the region.

Tesla Street

“The water situation is bad, and will get worse,” Heiko Baschin, a spokesman for the neighbourhood association IG Freienbrink, told AFP.

Brandenburg’s environment minister Axel Vogel sought to play down the issue, saying in March that “capacity has not been exceeded for now”.

But the authorities admit that “the impact of droughts is significant” and have set up a working group to examine the issue in the long term.

The gigafactory is set to sprawl over 300 hectares – equivalent to approximately 560 football fields – southwest of the German capital.

Tesla is aiming to produce 500,000 electric vehicles a year at the plant, which will also be home to “the largest battery factory in the world”,
according to group boss Elon Musk.

In a little over a year and a half, swathes of coniferous forest have already been cleared to make way for vast concrete rectangles on a red earth base, accessed via the already iconic Tesla Strasse (Tesla Street).

German bureaucracy

The new site still has only provisional construction permits, but Tesla has been authorised by local officials to begin work at its own risk.

Final approval depends on an assessment of the project’s environmental impact – including the issue of water.

In theory, if approval is not granted, Tesla will have to dismantle the entire complex at its own expense.

But “pressure is being exerted (on the regulatory authorities), linked to Tesla’s significant investment”, Gruene Liga’s Michael Greschow told AFP.

In early April, Tesla said it was “irritated” by the slow pace of German bureaucracy, calling for exceptions to the rules for projects that help the environment.

Economy Minister Peter Altmaier agreed in April that his government “had not done enough” to reduce bureaucracy, lauding the gigafactory as a “very important project”.

Despite Germany’s reputation for efficiency, major infrastructure projects are often held up by bureaucracy criticised as excessive by the business community.

Among the most embarrassing examples are Berlin’s new airport which opened last October after an eight-year delay and Stuttgart’s new train station, which has been under construction since 2010.

Brandenburg’s economy minister, Joerg Steinbach, raised the possibility in February that the Tesla factory could be delayed beyond its July planned opening for the same reason.

SEE ALSO: Tesla advertises over 300 jobs for new Gigafactory near Berlin

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