MB next year? Not so fast says Haug

Every year around this time we hear Haug explain why they aren't quite ready yet, but that next year the new car will change things. Well, not quite.

This year he actually took several steps back saying that even by next year the new car will not guarantee podiums and wins:

http://www.speedweek.ch/Formel1/news/21180/Haug-bittet-um-Geduld.html

He now talks about a 5 year plan, compairing MB to RB, who needed 5 years to get to their first victory. In other words: Schumacher's comeback won't bear any fruit unless MS would extend it...

«Ich rede nicht über irgendeinen Zeitpunkt in zwei Jahren, sondern über einen längeren Zeitraum. Wenn man es in weniger als fünf Jahren schafft, ohne masslos Geld hineinzupumpen – was Teams in der Vergangenheit gemacht haben –, dann ist das wirklich etwas Besonderes.»

Translation:
"I don't speak about a particular point in time in 2 years, but about a longer period of time. If you can do it in less than 5 years without pumping a ton of money into it - as teams have done so in the past - then this is really something special."

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This reminds me of Dr. Theissen at BMW who first talked about a 3 year plan to WDC: First year constant results and podiums, second year victories and third year the title. As none of that materialized he started to extend the time horizon year after year until the BMW board pulled the plug.

I see a lot of parallels with MB.

 

Indeed. Merc and Haug run that successfully into the ground.

 

It is fascinating what a big car manufacturer achieves vs a privateer:

Years of also runs with Honda -> Brawn takes ownership and wins the title the same year -> Years of midfield results with Mercedes

 

When you're a small F1 team, then:
Corporate money is good. Corporate control is bad.

As simple as that.

I'm amazed that the the "big ones" still haven't figured that one out. Porsche, Jaguar, Honda, Ford, BMW, Mercedes, they were/are all disasters. Renault remains the exception to the rule (but they too took two separate attempts to get there).

Brawn masterminded 1 Honda, 2 Benetton and 5 Ferrari titles. You'd think Mercedes would give the guy some space to operate in.

 

Except that Brawn only had half a car when he took it over from Honda. Honda would have continued with their lame engine. Besides: we simply don't know when and by whom the super diffuser was invented.


As for Williams: in the last ten years only two titles were won by big car manufacturers. Or should I say 40 years?

 

A sad statement, but I don't believe he is in it for money.

He came back to win the title with his fav team and friends.

 

Whom did I miss?

I'm sure my list was not comprehensive.

 

I'm not promoting a small shop myth. Of course you need big money and a 500 person team in F1.

But you also need the independence in decision making, the direct and flat command and communication structures missing in a big corporate environment.

As Vizsla said death by committee.

FIAT is big but Ferrari racing operates very independently. Therein lies the difference and I bet Renault II operated that way as opposed to Renault I.

 

I would have fun but I doubt somebody sitting on half a billion dollars with 7 titles in hand cares much about 20 million while getting his ass handed to him every race