Mercedes-Benz has, in a surprise move, bought the championship-winning Brawn GP Formula 1 team. Next year's F1 season will mark the return of Mercedes as an independent F1 team and the return of the Silver Arrows, the name given to Mercedes pre-war grand prix cars.
This is big news. Toyota and BMW have both announced that this season was their last, and Renault is hanging on by a thread after it was revealed a few months back that the team instructed Nelson Piquet Jr. to crash in a safety car scheme that handed a race win to teammate Fernando Alonso. The press dubbed it "crashgate," not to be confused with "liargate" after Lewis Hamilton lied to FIA officials about what his team had told him over his in-helmet radio.
A new manufacturer-sponsored team is a vote of confidence in the sport when the sport really needs it after so many "gates" and withdrawals this year.
Mercedes has a long history in motorsport. Lots of success, lots of trouble, and the worst accident in motor racing history.
Mercedes withdrew from motorsport in 1955 after the horrific accident at LeMans.
Pierre Levegh was driving one of the factory Mercedes 300 SLRs when he was unable to avoid colliding with the aerodynamically sloped rear of an Austin Healey, launching the Mercedes into the air and off the track. The car struck an earthen berm intended to protect spectators in a nearby grandstand. Levegh was killed instantly. The front suspension and big straight-eight engine were dislodged and flew into the grandstand. 80 spectators were killed. 80 spectators.
The race was continued only because organizers feared that spectators would clog the surrounding roadways and slow ambulances. The two remaining Mercedes cars withdrew, and it wasn't until 1987 that Mercedes again began fielding a serious racing team.
Then in the 90s came the CLK-GTR entry into world sportscar racing. The car was tremendously quick, winning the 1997 and 1998 FIA World GT championships. The CLK-GTR's successor, the CLM, raced at Leman, but an aerodynamic flaw meant that the car was liable to develop front-end lift at high speeds when following in another car's slipstream. Two spectacular crashes resulted in which the cars went airborne flipping end over end in a fashion more commonly seek in hydrofoil boat racing. Neither driver nor any spectators were seriously hurt, but the image of big silver cars flying through the air at LeMans drew some uncomfortable comparisons and Mercedes hasn't been at LeMans since.
Now they're back in F1. It's unclear who's going to be driving for them, but team management has said that they will not be looking for an all-German driver lineup.
Jensen Button has accepted an offer from McLaren, formerly McLaren-Mercedes before Merc rededicated its F1 efforts into its own team.
It's speculated that McLaren's reemergence as a roadcar maker with the new MP4-12c (hoped to be the spiritual successor to the McLaren F1 of the 90s) caused a rift between the British team and Mercedes, which had previously colluded to build the Mercedes-McLaren SLR roadcar.
America's hopeful F1 team, USF1, has secured an engine deal with Cosworth, the British engine maker that seems to be supplying most of next year's privateer teams. Still no word on who might be driving for the American team, but don't hold your breath hoping for an American driver, because there really aren't any who can hope to be competitive. That's a shame. There are a few options if USF1 hopes to attract sponsorships. Danika Patrick has said that she'd be interested, and so has Kyle Busch. But don't expect either of them to be at the front, or middle, of the pack.
