Brawn Grand Prix officially announced this morning that Daimler AG and Aabar Investments PJSC has bought a 75-percent stake in the team that won the world championship in its first year of existence. The team run by ex-Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn was born just under a year ago out of the ashes of the former Honda F1 team after that automaker pulled out of the sport. With Brawn taking over the reigns, the team secured a supply of engines from Mercedes and went on to win numerous races in 2009 along with both the constructors and drivers world championship for driver Jenson Button.
Rumors of Mercedes expanding its involvement with the Brawn team have been ongoing throughout most of the season. The Stuttgart automaker has been gradually pulling away from the McLaren team following the scandals of recent years and end of the SLR road car program. The McLaren Group will buy back the 40-percent stake in itself that Daimler currently holds by the end of 2011. The deal leaves the door open for Mercedes to continue supplying engines to McLaren through 2015. However, there has been speculation about McLaren attempting to buy the former BMW F1 engine shop to build its own powerplants.
The Brawn team will now be known as Mercedes Grand Prix and Ross Brawn will continue as the team principal.
[Autoblog]
