McLaren-Mercedes relationship better than ever

Friday 6th November 2009

Mercedes motorsport boss Norbert Haug has once again dismissed speculation that the company's relationship with McLaren is about to come to an end.

There has been strong talk of Mercedes ending their long-standing partnership with McLaren as it looks to increase their role in Brawn GP from engine supplier to part owner.

However, Haug insists the company is committed to the Woking-based outfit, saying the team is stronger than ever.

"There is a very firm decision that we have a long-term commitment with our partner McLaren," said Haug. "Rather than going into speculation, I have to point out that this team works better together than ever before.

"The guys did a remarkable job, we were really quite lost at the beginning of the season and internally we discussed, we need to be there at the home GP at the Nurburgring. We saw what happened.

"It is not like turning a switch and we are there, there was a lot of work and I think what was remarkable for McLaren and the chassis guys, a completely new style was adapted.

"This team was about testing, learning, evaluating, and you saw that when the truck comes to the races and brings the parts on Friday morning and you check and double check and make back-to-back tests there was a lot of work in the garage.

"The way these guys learned to anticipate what will happen, what will be the next tenth of a second and so on, I think this five/six months period was probably the best learning history in the history of McLaren, in the history of our team definitely, and it shows this team is stronger than ever.

"If you compare it to half a year ago, and you do an overlay of all team's performance, then we scored more points in the last seven races. We also lost some, like Monza and Nurburgring. This is a real important statement, this team is probably better than ever."

Your Comments

elvisbeavis

"Mclaren finished the season stronger than Brawn from a far inferior starting point and also with Slowvalinen driving for them. In the long term Mclaren still have to be the safest place for your money."

Arnaldo1981

"It's not impossible but rather unlike that mclaren and Mercedes will part ways simple because they rely on each others very much ,Mercedes cars technology are mclaren and mclaren engineers and others cost are Mercedes so it's quitly unlike those two to turn backs"