Mercedes is apparently in talks with Brawn GP at the moment, hoping to buy into the team while retaining their links with McLaren. One can understand why they should be so interested in Brawn, the team having produced one of the two best cars of this season and providing the German engine manufacturer a reason to celebrate in spite of McLaren's problems with the MP4-24. In the meantime, however, the decision on which team to add to its current three-team engine customer base is delayed.
Rubens Barrichello and the Brawn BGP 001
That choice may not fall automatically upon Red Bull, it seems. There is a possibility that Williams (who are also considering the Renault power plant) will swap from Toyota engines and other teams would like to get their hands on the Mercedes too. Clearly the German engine is the flavor of the moment, the must-have item of F1 fashion.
I am not so sure about Mercedes' idea of buying into Brawn, however. Obviously, the hope is that Brawn's genius in seeing and using the double diffuser loophole will continue with other innovative designs in the future, thereby keeping the team amongst the leaders in F1, but history tells us this may not be so. All too often, the originators of an idea that changes the face of the sport enjoy a short period of domination and are then overtaken by other teams who use the tweak more effectively.
Cooper was an example, its decision to stick the engine in the back giving the team a couple of years of success followed by many years of decline and eventual extinction. Lotus emerged as the team that made better use of the idea, although it must be admitted that their simultaneous introduction of the monocoque chassis had a lot to do with it too.
And it was Lotus who repeated the demonstration of how short-lived success through innovation can be; the ground effect Lotus 79 won everything in sight at first, pointing the way to another sea change in the sport. But it was a brief moment of sunshine for the team, Ligier, Williams and Brabham producing much more effective ground effect cars than Lotus could manage in the year following.
I would guess that Brawn's present problems with the BGP 001 are indicators that history is about to repeat itself. Button or Barrichello may become champion this year but it will be thanks to points amassed in the first half of the season; already the competition is pushing the team down the results board. To stay in front next year, Ross Brawn's men must repeat the trick of designing a better car than the rest and that is a tall order. Rarely does one innovation follow another in quick succession.
So Mercedes would do better to approach this one with caution. Rather than talking about "buying in", they could hedge their bet with some sponsorship money to get the badge on the car and then see how they do in 2010. Not that I am trying to downplay Brawn's success - I have been one of the supporters of their clever use of the diffuser loophole this year. But success is a fleeting thing in F1 and demands constant development if it is to stay with any particular team. And it remains to be seen whether Brawn can continue the drive towards improvement fast enough to stay with the other teams.
Money helps, of course, and it is money that has enabled McLaren to turn a dog of a car into a race winner this year. A link with Mercedes would certainly guarantee Brawn's financial future but it will not supply that spark of genius that produces the best car of the year. Only Ross and his team can do that - and this time they will not have a year's development to assist them...