Norbert Haug says he is responsible for Mercedes’ failure – Formula 1 news
Norbert Haug, who is going to step down from the role of head of Mercedes motorsport at the end of this year, has taken the responsibility of his team’s failure in the sport until now.
Haug announced during the last week that he is going to leave the Silver Arrows at the conclusion of this year after 22 years.
Mercedes came back to F1 as a constructor in 2010 and the German played an important role in this return. Even though, they returned with an aim to win the world championship, but failed to come up with the car which could match the pace of the rivals.
Both the drivers of the Brackley based team, Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg struggled with the technical problems because of which they could not attain competitive results.
Though, the German drivers performed convincingly during the start of the season, but could not keep up the level of consistency because Mercedes’ development process was not good enough.
There have been a lot of speculations that Haug has decided to step down from his job because the non-executive chairman of Mercedes, Niki Lauda pushed him to do so. However, the 60-year-old has dismissed all the rumours and said that he planned to leave
because he has not been able to deliver well.
In addition, he said that he takes the responsibility of his team’s struggles during the last three years.
“This was a decision made after the last race,” he told AUTOSPORT. “We had a report in Stuttgart and we reached a mutual agreement that we split. I take the responsibility for not having been successful enough in three years.”
“We were quite OK with our pace in the first third of the season - but then we dropped back. So we need changes, and I fully accept that,” he said.
“There is no bad feeling between the board and I. We are splitting amicably and we have found a good solution for both sides,” he added.
Besides, he said that he will always be ready to support his team in the future and wished all the members best of luck for the future.
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