Dieter Zetsche rules out any speculations of Mercedes to leave Formula One for next season or even for another couple of seasons. He has confirmed earlier this week that Mercedes came into Formula One to stay long-term and the
disappointing 2010 season does not affect this decision.
While talking to journalists this Monday, the German said, "We have been in F1 for some time and we're staying there for the longer term. We don't want to be deciding each year whether we are in or out. And we didn't sign a one-year
contract with Michael Schumacher, we signed for three years."
Zetsche is one of the most successful and influential businessmen of Germany and is the CEO of Mercedes-Benz Cars since 2006. He has also been a part of the Board of Management for the company since 1998 along with being the Chairman
of Daimler AG, a German car corporation.
This year had been the debut year of the team under the title of Mercedes GP. Last season the team was successful in bagging both the Drivers’ and the Constructors’ Championship as Brawn GP. Although the German squad entered the
2010 Formula One season with a lot of hype and fanfare yet the team faced a very disappointing season. The return of the seven times World Champion, Michael Schumacher in the sport after a gap of three years, and under the Mercedes GP umbrella raised the expectations
of the race fans immensely.
However, the team failed to deliver a very competitive car to Schumacher, while the legendary driver failed to get the best out of what he was handed. All through the season both, the driver as well as the team faced a lot of disappointment
and criticism. Still, the racing icon is determined to stay with the sport for another season and prove that he still possess the same championship winning mettle.
Although Mercedes GP managed to finish the Constructors' Championship in 4th place, they were way behind Ferrari who occupied 3rd place in the charts.
However, Zetsche remains optimistic saying that on having returned as a manufacturer after so long he never expected to have won the championship in the first year. He further added that even having any such goal would have been
an irrational and unrealistic one for a newly formed team.
He explained saying, "It is clear that the public, and also ourselves, expect us to be looking better than this year. One must, however, accept that in F1 - and in sport more generally - success is not reliably predictable. Otherwise,
it would be dead boring."
While commenting on the performance of Schumacher he agreed that everybody expected to see him much stronger on the track. However, he accepted that one cannot give extraordinary performance with an ordinary car, especially after
such an extended delay.
Although the Mercedes car was not a very poor one but the driver as well as his supporters insisted all through the season that this package did not suit his driving style. On the other hand, his teammate and comparatively, a much
young driver, Nico Rosberg had been able to bring far more points for the team.
While talking about the team’s aspirations for the upcoming season, Zetsche says that their primary goal is to provide the 41-year-old driver a competitive car that also suits his style of driving.
He concluded saying that Mercedes-Benz has entered the sport with a vision of demonstrating their leadership in this industry and it will strive until their aim is achieved. He believes that even the race fans do not expect anything
but the ’best’ when it comes to Mercedes.
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