| By Anthony Rowlinson |
Back in April 2013 I was invited to dinner with Ross Brawn and Toto Wolff, at Mercedes' request, over the weekend of the Bahrain Grand Prix. It was a predictably civilised affair, held in an Italian restaurant at the swish Sofitel, near the circuit. The dinner had been arranged by Mercedes' F1 comms chief and was ostensibly an exercise in imparting a tone of good relations between Wolff, newly appointed as the team's executive director, and Brawn, then team principal. The evening progressed amiably enough as both men spoke openly about the huge F1 ambition of Mercedes' main board and how that had translated into a push for the team's management to be restructured. Mercedes' 2012 F1 season had been less than stellar for a brand symbolised by a three-pointed star - just fifth in the constructors' table - resulting in an approach by Niki Lauda, Mercedes F1's non-executive chairman since September 2012, to Paddy Lowe, then technical director of McLaren. Lauda and Mercedes' Stuttgart supremos had come to the conclusion that a single-boss 'team-principal' structure was outdated and that a 'twin-chief' model would be better - those chiefs being Lowe (technical) and Wolff (commercial). Trouble was, Brawn believed in the 'sole charge' method and by season's end he had been eased towards the exit door, politically disadvantaged against an Austro-German axis of Lauda, Wolff and the Merc main board. The conclusion of that battle was still months away when we met in Bahrain, however, and on the evening the only note of discord between Wolff and Brawn was sounded when Toto enthused a little too strongly about how harmoniously he and Ross were working together.
"There was an example today of non-verbal communication and understanding between us," he offered. "When was that then, Toto?" Ross withered. Forks momentarily froze mid-journey from plate to mouth and at least one jaw was left agape as the bluntness of Brawn's response was absorbed... but glasses were charged and we moved on. The resulting feature for F1 Racing magazine was suitably on-message. Only now, almost four years on, and with Brawn's technical successor Lowe also having departed Mercedes for reasons that have yet to be fully clarified, has the significance of that dinner become fully apparent. Ross was being bombed out of his job; he knew it, Toto knew it, Mercedes knew it and the team was doing everything it could to 'soft PR' its way out of a potentially sticky situation. At the time Mercedes succeeded in 'managing the message' of Brawn's departure, and in due course, Lowe was appointed executive director (technical), to work alongside Wolff as per the prescribed 'new structure'. Brawn, having laid the foundations for what would become three seasons of total F1 domination, took his leave at the end of 2013 and disappeared from the F1 scene almost without trace, for three years. He broke cover last autumn, with the publication of the staggeringly unvarnished Total Competition, a book co-written with former Williams team chairman Adam Parr. Among its myriad revelations is Ross's unflinching assessment of his shabby treatment at Mercedes' hands. "What happened is that people were imposed on me who I couldn't trust," he wrote.
"I never really knew what they were trying to do. I mean Niki would tell me one thing, then I would hear he was saying something else. Toto had that famous stroll along the beach with Colin Kolles, a friend of his, who, for his own reasons was recording the conversation. In the discussion, which became semi-public, he made various comments about me. "He said that I was resting on my money now. I had got all this money and I wasn't interested in the team any more. And I wasn't motivated and I wasn't doing this, I wasn't doing that. That the team need a fresh impetus and all that sort of stuff... So I was beginning to deal with people who had let me down already in terms of their approach. "Then early in 2013 I discovered Paddy Lowe had been contracted to join the team and it had been signed off in Stuttgart. When I challenged Toto and Niki, they both blamed each other. I met them to have it out with them. And they pointed to each other... So anyway, clearly the trust had broken down." One wonders what Lowe, soon to join Williams as technical chief, with a seat on the board of directors and an ownership stake, might have thought if he chanced across those words when they were published last October. For by that late stage in the 2016 season, rumours were rife that he, too, was about to be told 'thanks for all your help'. While it seemed scarcely credible that the Lowe/Wolff tango might split, the pair having overseen three consecutive world title doubles since 2014, mutterings of discontent had emanated from Mercedes' Brackley HQ throughout 2016.
Wolff was rumoured to be unhappy with the size of the performance-related pay packet Lowe was receiving; Lowe, meantime, was said by some close to him to feel insufficiently recognised for his achievements. But this was footling stuff, surely - a spat, rather than grounds for divorce? That analysis, however, took no account of the imminent potential availability of James Allison, late of Ferrari, where he had been technical director since September 2013 until a fall-out with team boss Maurizio Arrivabene in mid-'16. Differences of opinion as to Ferrari's technical approach, combined with a diktat from Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne that the team must be 'more creative', had made Allison's position untenable, despite his reputation as one of F1's three most coveted technical leaders, alongside Lowe and Red Bull's Adrian Newey. He'd left the team by late July last year and Autosport understands Mercedes wasted no time in making an approach. Indeed, one well-placed source said that the deal to place Allison as technical director from March 1 - announced on Thursday - was agreed last September. Lowe's departure (subsequently explained in briefings as a 'non-renewal of contract') was announced on January 10 in a brief, dispassionate, press release in which Wolff noted: "Paddy has played an important part in our success during the past three-and-a-half years and we thank him for his contribution to this significant chapter in Mercedes' motorsport history.
"Success in Formula 1 is not about single individuals, but about the strength in depth and technical capability of an organisation. We have the talent in place to continue our success of recent years and we plan to build upon it in 2017 and beyond." A eulogy it was not. But while a Lowe-shaped hole will be filled with an Allison-shaped peg, the question that remains unanswered is why that 'hole' was ever dug in the first place. Even the multi-million-dollar retainers commanded by superstar F1 tech bosses are small (-ish) change in the context of a Mercedes F1 budget that approaches half a billion dollars per annum. As one observer noted: "Mercedes could easily have afforded Paddy and James. Their combined salaries would be covered by the rounding up of a budget line." Whatever, Mercedes' loss will be Williams' gain, just as Allison's departure from Ferrari will benefit the Silver Arrows. Tellingly, Allison will report directly to Wolff, "who will have overall responsibility for running the team", returning Mercedes to the structure it abandoned post-Brawn. Allison might be well advised to spend a little of his remaining gardening leave with Oscar Wilde. For 'to lose one technical chief may be regarded as misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.' Or worse...
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| By Anthony Rowlinson |
Back in April 2013 I was invited to dinner with Ross Brawn and Toto Wolff, at Mercedes' request, over the weekend of the Bahrain Grand Prix. It was a predictably civilised affair, held in an Italian restaurant at the swish Sofitel, near the circuit. The dinner had been arranged by Mercedes' F1 comms chief and was ostensibly an exercise in imparting a tone of good relations between Wolff, newly appointed as the team's executive director, and Brawn, then team principal. The evening progressed amiably enough as both men spoke openly about the huge F1 ambition of Mercedes' main board and how that had translated into a push for the team's management to be restructured. Mercedes' 2012 F1 season had been less than stellar for a brand symbolised by a three-pointed star - just fifth in the constructors' table - resulting in an approach by Niki Lauda, Mercedes F1's non-executive chairman since September 2012, to Paddy Lowe, then technical director of McLaren. Lauda and Mercedes' Stuttgart supremos had come to the conclusion that a single-boss 'team-principal' structure was outdated and that a 'twin-chief' model would be better - those chiefs being Lowe (technical) and Wolff (commercial). Trouble was, Brawn believed in the 'sole charge' method and by season's end he had been eased towards the exit door, politically disadvantaged against an Austro-German axis of Lauda, Wolff and the Merc main board. The conclusion of that battle was still months away when we met in Bahrain, however, and on the evening the only note of discord between Wolff and Brawn was sounded when Toto enthused a little too strongly about how harmoniously he and Ross were working together.
"There was an example today of non-verbal communication and understanding between us," he offered. "When was that then, Toto?" Ross withered. Forks momentarily froze mid-journey from plate to mouth and at least one jaw was left agape as the bluntness of Brawn's response was absorbed... but glasses were charged and we moved on. The resulting feature for F1 Racing magazine was suitably on-message. Only now, almost four years on, and with Brawn's technical successor Lowe also having departed Mercedes for reasons that have yet to be fully clarified, has the significance of that dinner become fully apparent. Ross was being bombed out of his job; he knew it, Toto knew it, Mercedes knew it and the team was doing everything it could to 'soft PR' its way out of a potentially sticky situation. At the time Mercedes succeeded in 'managing the message' of Brawn's departure, and in due course, Lowe was appointed executive director (technical), to work alongside Wolff as per the prescribed 'new structure'. Brawn, having laid the foundations for what would become three seasons of total F1 domination, took his leave at the end of 2013 and disappeared from the F1 scene almost without trace, for three years. He broke cover last autumn, with the publication of the staggeringly unvarnished Total Competition, a book co-written with former Williams team chairman Adam Parr. Among its myriad revelations is Ross's unflinching assessment of his shabby treatment at Mercedes' hands. "What happened is that people were imposed on me who I couldn't trust," he wrote.
"I never really knew what they were trying to do. I mean Niki would tell me one thing, then I would hear he was saying something else. Toto had that famous stroll along the beach with Colin Kolles, a friend of his, who, for his own reasons was recording the conversation. In the discussion, which became semi-public, he made various comments about me. "He said that I was resting on my money now. I had got all this money and I wasn't interested in the team any more. And I wasn't motivated and I wasn't doing this, I wasn't doing that. That the team need a fresh impetus and all that sort of stuff... So I was beginning to deal with people who had let me down already in terms of their approach. "Then early in 2013 I discovered Paddy Lowe had been contracted to join the team and it had been signed off in Stuttgart. When I challenged Toto and Niki, they both blamed each other. I met them to have it out with them. And they pointed to each other... So anyway, clearly the trust had broken down." One wonders what Lowe, soon to join Williams as technical chief, with a seat on the board of directors and an ownership stake, might have thought if he chanced across those words when they were published last October. For by that late stage in the 2016 season, rumours were rife that he, too, was about to be told 'thanks for all your help'. While it seemed scarcely credible that the Lowe/Wolff tango might split, the pair having overseen three consecutive world title doubles since 2014, mutterings of discontent had emanated from Mercedes' Brackley HQ throughout 2016.
Wolff was rumoured to be unhappy with the size of the performance-related pay packet Lowe was receiving; Lowe, meantime, was said by some close to him to feel insufficiently recognised for his achievements. But this was footling stuff, surely - a spat, rather than grounds for divorce? That analysis, however, took no account of the imminent potential availability of James Allison, late of Ferrari, where he had been technical director since September 2013 until a fall-out with team boss Maurizio Arrivabene in mid-'16. Differences of opinion as to Ferrari's technical approach, combined with a diktat from Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne that the team must be 'more creative', had made Allison's position untenable, despite his reputation as one of F1's three most coveted technical leaders, alongside Lowe and Red Bull's Adrian Newey. He'd left the team by late July last year and Autosport understands Mercedes wasted no time in making an approach. Indeed, one well-placed source said that the deal to place Allison as technical director from March 1 - announced on Thursday - was agreed last September. Lowe's departure (subsequently explained in briefings as a 'non-renewal of contract') was announced on January 10 in a brief, dispassionate, press release in which Wolff noted: "Paddy has played an important part in our success during the past three-and-a-half years and we thank him for his contribution to this significant chapter in Mercedes' motorsport history.
"Success in Formula 1 is not about single individuals, but about the strength in depth and technical capability of an organisation. We have the talent in place to continue our success of recent years and we plan to build upon it in 2017 and beyond." A eulogy it was not. But while a Lowe-shaped hole will be filled with an Allison-shaped peg, the question that remains unanswered is why that 'hole' was ever dug in the first place. Even the multi-million-dollar retainers commanded by superstar F1 tech bosses are small (-ish) change in the context of a Mercedes F1 budget that approaches half a billion dollars per annum. As one observer noted: "Mercedes could easily have afforded Paddy and James. Their combined salaries would be covered by the rounding up of a budget line." Whatever, Mercedes' loss will be Williams' gain, just as Allison's departure from Ferrari will benefit the Silver Arrows. Tellingly, Allison will report directly to Wolff, "who will have overall responsibility for running the team", returning Mercedes to the structure it abandoned post-Brawn. Allison might be well advised to spend a little of his remaining gardening leave with Oscar Wilde. For 'to lose one technical chief may be regarded as misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.' Or worse...
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