Former Mercedes motorsport boss, Norbert Haug has hit out at his countrymen over Germany's attitude towards F1.

While not quite accusing his countrymen of only 'singing when they're winning', Haug, who was instrumental in bringing the Mercedes name back to F1 almost 40 years after its withdrawal from motorsport over the 1955 Le Mans disaster, says that Germany's attitude towards the sport is "a tragedy".

Having brought the Mercedes name back to SportsCars and DTM, in 1993 he oversaw the Three Pointed Star enter F1 in partnership with Sauber, though initially there was no actual reference to Mercedes. The following year, alongside its entry to the CART series, Mercedes officially badged the engines, built in partnership with Ilmor, on the Sauber cars.

From 1995, Mercedes partnered with McLaren, but in 2009 it was announced that Daimler AG and Emirati sovereign wealth fund Aabar Investments had purchased a 75.1% stake in the former Honda team which was now rebranded as Brawn GP. Having won both titles in its only season in the sport, the Brackley-based outfit was rebranded as Mercedes in 2010, with Brawn and Haug leading the project.

However, the arrival of Toto Wolff and Niki Lauda was to see Haug, a former journalist and racer, leave at the end of 2012, with Brawn following suit a year later.

Though F1 still attracts around three times the TV audience that the sport enjoys in the US, the sport is essentially on its knees. Whereas at one stage, during the height of the Schumacher years, it hosted two races, since Nico Rosberg won at Hockenheim in 2014 there have been just four races, the most recent being the hastily organised Eifel Grand Prix at the Nurburgring at the height of the pandemic.

"In Germany, Formula 1 has turned into a tragedy that every motorsport enthusiast can only be ashamed of," he tells RND.

"Between 1994 and 2016, there were German world champions like an assembly line," he continues, "seven titles from Michael Schumacher, four in a row from Sebastian Vettel and finally the last one to date from Nico Rosberg in 2016.

"Mercedes, with its partner teams McLaren and Brawn GP with Mika Hakkinen, Lewis Hamilton, and Jenson Button, won four drivers' championships between 1998 and 2009, the Mercedes factory team was constructors' champion eight times in a row from 2014 to 2021, winning six world titles with Hamilton and one with Rosberg.

"For a dozen years, in the late 1990s and 2000s, there were two Formula 1 races a year in Germany, in front of full ranks and over 100,000 spectators. On RTL, 12 million people watched, instead of three million today.

"In 2010, there were still seven German Formula 1 drivers in one season," he recalls. "Today, Nico Hulkenberg still has one in what is, at best, a second-rate team, and Mick Schumacher is a promising substitute driver, but at least in the right team. There hasn't been a German Grand Prix for a long time.

"A zealous green auto objector could not have developed a less ambitious and less successful German Formula 1 strategy. This specifically excludes the Mercedes works team, which, correctly, operates out of England and has two great English drivers."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Max Noble, 07/01/2023 5:52

"@Kenji - yup solid Roman limestone, and concrete - only way to build a “crash” barrier…!"

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2. Posted by kenji, 05/01/2023 0:00

"I don't think that the chariot drivers competing in their gladiatorial endeavours worried too much about track limits either!
"

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3. Posted by alvarezh3, 03/01/2023 20:31

"@BrightonCorgi

You got a point. We still use our legs for the 100 meter dash and the 50Km marathon. :-)"

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4. Posted by BrightonCorgi, 03/01/2023 20:11

"There will always be racing with humans risking their lives for victory.

This has been a constant of since mankind's inception."

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5. Posted by Spindoctor, 02/01/2023 12:17

"@Max Noble
Pretty gloomy, but I fear plausible prediction of the decline of F1.

Horse Racing seems a suitable analogue. After the demise of the horse as motive power & its replacement with hydrocarbons, Horses have become a hobby for rich people. The main public interest in gee gees is in Racing\Gambling, and while that is a significant business it is trivial compared to Football, Tennis, Golf etc.

Porsche's investments in allegedly "green" fuels seem to indicate that Motor Sports will become a similarly marginal distraction for the wealthy. I presume this magic potion will be available only to the owners of Porsche products and used primarily on Track Days (IC vehicles will be banned on the Open Road).

Global predictions for the near future aren't encouraging: huge population growth coupled with the loss of vast tracts of Agricultural land, rises in sea level etc. Watching people drive ludicrously expensive Formula cars round circuits all over the World will probably be seen as a fatuous waste....

"

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6. Posted by BrightonCorgi, 01/01/2023 15:08

"If you want to increase German viewership and interest in F1 - Bring back the pit girls. Bring back refueling. "

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7. Posted by Mad Matt, 01/01/2023 10:43

"I think it's more the case that the German government doesn't see why it should subsidise Liberty Media's bottom line."

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8. Posted by Greg, 31/12/2022 17:00

"Well said @Max.... Las Vegas cost for the ultimate seats a good example
"

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9. Posted by kenji, 31/12/2022 10:49

"@Max Noble...I'd prefer a cover of an AC/DC song 'Highway to Hell'."

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10. Posted by Max Noble, 31/12/2022 8:04

"Sorry, cannot resist. Norbert to sing a cover of the Bee Gees song…? Anyone…? "

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11. Posted by Max Noble, 31/12/2022 8:02

"What fires a nation’s imagination? I think Germany is ahead of the curve in falling out of love with Motor Sport. When automated driving finally arrives (around 2040 would be my honest guess right now…) no one will care about the human ability to drive. Indeed, a number of our children’s friends do not own a car, and a slightly smaller number cannot drive. They use public transport, or Uber (or similar). As a result their interest in “The Ultimate Driving Machine” is zero.

I’ve previously written about Motor Sport ending up like equestrian sports - a super super limited appeal to wealthy mega-fans. It will never die, but it will cease to be mainstream.

I’d watch where the Saudi money goes after it has corroded Golf, and sucked motor sport dry… They will have the best advice money can buy on where to next make a fast buck… (refer boxing whereby it has fewer followers than ever, but those that do follow part with dollar, after dollar on pay per view…)

"

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12. Posted by @R1Racing71, 30/12/2022 21:36

"Nobody’s fool are the Germans…."

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13. Posted by elsiebc, 30/12/2022 17:08

"Maybe the German riches of past years has caused the current powers that be to become complacent about promoting the sport. Maybe Mercedes needs to lose more often, something that I personally would welcome, to end this tragedy of riches."

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Germany's attitude to F1 "a tragedy" says former Mercedes boss

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