Mercedes F1 chief exposes 'firefighting' amid CHAOS and missed deadlines

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Mercedes F1 chief exposes 'firefighting' amid CHAOS and missed deadlines

He has revealed that the team weren't in the best of shape

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Friday 26 January 2024 09:12 Updated: 10:58

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Mercedes' chief operating officer Rob Thomas has revealed a 'chaotic' working environment at Mercedes during the early days of the team's current participation in the sport led to a number of deadlines being missed.

The Brackley-based squad took over from the one season wonder that was Brawn GP in 2010, with Ross Brawn staying on as team principal in the initial years.

Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher came out of retirement to drive with the team, but was only able to add one more podium to his illustrious CV in three seasons with Mercedes.

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Toto Wolff and Paddy Lowe took over the reins in 2014, and guided Mercedes to eight consecutive constructors' championships, as well as helping Lewis Hamilton win six of his seven drivers' world championship titles.

Mercedes enjoyed little success in their initial three seasons back as an F1 team

Michael Schumacher was only able to add one podium to his CV in three seasons with Mercedes

Mercedes were born from the ashes of the highly successful Brawn GP team

Mercedes' failed plans

Now, Thomas is reflecting on the early days of Mercedes' reintegration into the sport in which they had previously competed in both as an engine manufacturer and team.

Thomas joined in 2010, the year after the Brawn GP team had won both the drivers' and constructors' world championships.

“There were detailed plans, but they weren’t really respected,” he told PlanetF1.

“A lot of internal dates were a bit optional, and we’d do our best to hit those deadlines, but generally we didn’t.

“Things got later and later and what you ended up was people working in a chaotic firefighting way, trying to get parts together.

“We wouldn’t get either the result we needed from performance or reliability either. That all leads to going to the first races in a massively sub-optimal condition, not getting the learning you want and leading to people being burnt out.”

Mercedes Michael Schumacher Ross Brawn Brawn GP