أرشيف وسم ‘ Norbert Haug ’
Norbert Haug, the former Mercedes competition boss, has bad news for the hopeful German marque. To now be headed by Paddy Lowe, Toto Wolff and Niki Lauda, Mercedes is bullish about its 2014 hopes, having finished second in 2013 to the runaway champion team, Red Bull. "For everyone and for me the target is to win the world championship, both championships," driver Lewis Hamilton told the British broadcaster Sky after last weekend's 2013 finale in Brazil. "If we don't do it naturally there will be […]
Beating Red Bull to the world championship will now be "virtually impossible" for rival teams, former Mercedes boss Norbert Haug admits. But the 60-year-old, who was replaced as the German marque's motor racing president by Toto Wolff for 2013 and beyond, tipped Mercedes to give the reigning world champions a run for their money next year. "I think Mercedes will be very well positioned," Haug told Servus TV. "It also took Red Bull five years to build the team. This is the fourth one for […]
Ross Brawn has warned Mercedes against making more big changes to the team that could result in a performance dip. It was believed McLaren's 'gardening leave' technical director Paddy Lowe was set to replace Brawn as the Brackley based team's boss in 2014. And, following the recent departure of Norbert Haug and the arrival at Mercedes of new shareholders Niki Lauda and Toto Wolff, it has been rumoured that further staff changes at the team's UK headquarters could now follow. Brawn, however, warned that more […]
Mercedes is bidding to shed its "conservative" image, new director and team co-owner Toto Wolff has revealed. Over the winter, it has been all change at the German team; swapping Michael Schumacher with Lewis Hamilton, Norbert Haug with Austrian Wolff and Niki Lauda, and soon set to push ahead with McLaren's ex technical chief Paddy Lowe. "At Mercedes, we no longer want to be so conservative," Wolff is quoted by Austrian television ORF 1. "The new Mercedes (road car) models are young and sporty." He […]
Mercedes' new recruit Toto Wolff has revealed he will be based at Brackley. A new team shareholder and officially called executive director, 41-year-old Austrian Wolff is in essence replacing Norbert Haug, Mercedes' long-time motor sport vice-president. "These are very large shoes to fill," he said in an interview with Austrian broadcaster ORF. "He (Haug) did a lot of things extremely well. "It has not gone as expected last year and now we have to figure out what happened," said Wolff. "But Norbert certainly was not […]
McLaren could be set to lose its technical director. Germany's Sport Bild is reporting that Paddy Lowe, who has been with the Woking based team for twenty years, is following Lewis Hamilton to Mercedes. The report said executive director Toto Wolff wooed Briton Lowe, 50, for a switch to Williams, but Austrian Wolff has subsequently moved to Mercedes. "This is big news," Red Bull's Dr Helmut Marko is quoted as saying. McLaren declined to comment, according to Britain's Daily Telegraph. Sport Bild said the other […]
Dieter Zetsche, the chairman of the German marque's parent Daimler, says Mercedes must be pushing for the world championship by 2014. Admitting that the appointments of Lewis Hamilton and Niki Lauda, and the departure of Norbert Haug, were because of Mercedes' lack of recent success, he also acknowledged that the silver team will not be in a title-winning position this year. "As it (F1) is so visible people see pretty quickly if you succeed or not, and if the results are up to your expectations," […]
Norbert Haug has admitted he is stepping down due to Mercedes' lack of success as a works team since 2010. But in an interview with Germany's Bild daily, he denied reports he is being made a scapegoat. "No, I'm not," said Haug, who served as the German marque's motor sport vice president for more than two decades. "If I had nothing to do with our failures in the last three years, then I would have nothing to do with our victory in China this year," […]
Lewis Hamilton has already started work at Mercedes. Britain's Sun newspaper said that although the 2008 world champion remains under contract to McLaren for two more weeks, a "deal" has been agreed whereby the 27-year-old can at least meet his new engineers. And the report said Briton Hamilton also got his first taste of Mercedes' driver simulator last week. "Lewis has already been in the factory to see the team and fulfil some duties after we found an agreement about that with McLaren," said Mercedes' […]
Norbert Haug is leaving his role as Mercedes' motor sport chief "by mutal agreement" at the end of this month. A statement issued by the German carmaker said that, after his more than two decades in the role, the 60-year-old's contract is ending. "Preparations for the forthcoming season continue as planned," Thursday's announcement read. The statement did not give a reason for Haug's sudden departure, or who might replace him. But in late September, triple world champion Niki Lauda joined the board of Mercedes' Brackley […]
For the second successive weekend, the Mercedes team left a Grand Prix without any points after a difficult day in Korea. Nico Rosberg was hit on the first lap by Kamui Kobayashi and was forced to retire a lap later. Michael Schumacher struggled to thirteenth place. "Unfortunately this has been the second poor weekend in a row for me, and it's very frustrating to be taken out twice in the first corners of the race. Kobayashi hit me from behind today and that was my […]
Michael Schumacher surprised even Mercedes when he announced his decision to return to retirement. Germany's Auto Motor und Sport said that even though bosses Ross Brawn and Norbert Haug flanked the seven time world champion as he announced the news, they had only been told what was going to happen just five minutes earlier. "We had been preparing for a different kind of press conference," Haug revealed. "Michael, Ross and I were going to answer the questions that had arisen after the transfer (announcement) of […]