By De Jokke
October 31 2013

The news that Paddy Lowe would join Mercedes back in January 2013 could prove costly for Mercedes, as 10 months later current team boss Ross Brawn is on the verge of leaving Mercedes as he is no longer solely in charge of the team. A demand Brawn isn’t willing to let go. And if Mercedes doesn’t grant him this wish, we might see Paddy Lowe replacing Brawn much earlier than was originally planned. It’s no secret that Lowe would step in eventually as team boss but isn’t it too early? Can Paddy Lowe handle all this responsibility already? Is he up for the job and does he have the necessary team leader skills to lead the Merc team to glory? Lots of questions to be answered! Let’s take a deeper look.

In January 2013 Mercedes announced that Paddy Lowe would join the team, coming from rival Mclaren. At first people would think: Good job from Lauda, another technical mind added to the team which will strengthen the team’s knowledge until it was made clear that Lowe would join Merc not as a technical staff member but as a future team leader. A choice difficult to understand some would say, because if you look at what he has done in the past (Williams ‘87-’92 Joint Head of Electronics, Mclaren ‘93-’12 several roles (Technical Director,...)), there are not really team leader roles involved, except maybe leading the technical team. But that is still totally different than leading a whole racing team.

The question that is on everyone’s lips: can he do it? Does Paddy Lowe has the technical strengths, as well as the mental strength to lead a whole team to world title glory. Because Mercedes is not in it to just drive around, they want to see world titles and rather sooner than later. Therefore the team put in extra capital for the coming season (2014) to make sure it has enough financial resources to cope with the new technical regulations that come into play next year. Mercedes itself is optimistic about the car, the progress is going well and they are confident they are building a "great" car.

The drivers sure hope so as Lewis Hamilton is longing for his second world title while Nico (Rosberg) is still aiming for his maiden one. But having a good car and strong drivers isn’t enough, you also need a well organized team which starts from the team leader (currently Brawn) until the mechanics who put the car together. With Ross Brawn, Mercedes have a more than capable team leader to lead the team to glory (as he proved in 2009 with Brawn GP).  So why change? Certainly for a technical staff member who has no real team leader experience after all. Many questions remain why Mercedes took such a gamble… Perhaps they overdid it, you could even say that they managed to scare away their current team leader, unless it was always their intention... But that’s a whole other story.

Let’s stay on topic and give Paddy the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he will take the team to new heights, maybe he is a born leader after all, maybe he gels the team better than Brawn managed to do so far. 2014 can’t come soon enough for Mr. Lowe to prove all the doubters wrong (if Ross Brawn decides to  leave Mercedes that is). It’s surely going to be an interesting year for the "Silver Arrows"…

Will it be the beginning of a new era of success or the start of the downfall of a fresh new top team?

Lowe blow to Mercedes?

Discussion started by TotalMercedesGP.com - Mercedes GP New (IP Logged), 31/10/2013 14:08

TotalMercedesGP.com - Mercedes GP New
31/10/2013 14:08

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Timba7
31/10/2013 16:09

Good post. Interesting to see what happens. Finance crisis also brings some extra to the mix.

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De_JOKKE
31/10/2013 17:48

If merc gets WCC next year, it'll be a major boost for his career for sure but still I don't see him as a leader...


"Leave it to Lewis Hamilton to ruin Red Bull's day" - Martin Brundle

In memoriam: Sessions

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f2005
31/10/2013 21:26

You can only wish him and the team luck

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