Nick Fry steps down as CEO of MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS

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The MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS Formula One team today announced that Nick Fry, the team´s Chief Executive Officer, will step down from his current position at the beginning of April. He will continue to assist the team´s commercial operations as a consultant until at least the end of 2014.

Toto Wolff, the team´s new Executive Director and 30 per cent shareholder, will therefore take a greater role in the day-to-day running of the team alongside Team Principal Ross Brawn, assuming the areas of responsibility previously held by Nick.

"I feel very privileged to have had the opportunity to work with our team for the last 11 years and remain extremely proud of the fact that we took the team to its first race win and especially the double World Championship in 2009. Equally important is the success of our commercial activities as we have managed to gain the support of some of the most important companies in the world, thereby building a strong foundation for the future success of the team," said Nick Fry. "I believe that MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS offers the best sponsorship proposition in Formula One and I look forward to continuing to assist the team and its partners over the coming years."

"I would like to thank Nick for more than ten years of service to the team in Brackley," commented Toto Wolff. "MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS enjoys a strong network of global, blue-chip partners who want to be associated with Mercedes-Benz in Formula One and we will work hard to retain our loyal partners while also attracting new names to the sport in the future. I am pleased that Nick will remain close to the team to support us in achieving these targets."

~ Official photo and details courtesy of MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS ~

Copyright © 2013, mercedesgla. All rights reserved.

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Final DTM race for Susie Wolff at the Hockenheim season finale

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Susie Wolff (29, Scotland, TV Spielfilm Mercedes AMG C-Coupé) will contest her last race in the world’s most popular touring car series in the DTM season finale (21st October 2012). Over the past seven years, the Scottish driver has contested 73 DTM races for Mercedes-Benz to date. Her best results were two seventh places during the 2010 season.

Wolff made her DTM debut in 2006 with Mücke Motorsport and earned respect straightaway in her first race in the AMG Mercedes C-Class at Hockenheim, where she achieved a top-ten finish. At the end of her debut DTM season, she moved to Team Persson, which has also prepared her TV Spielfilm Mercedes AMG C-Coupé this season.

The 29-year-old earned her first points with a seventh place finish at the Lausitzring in 2010. She went on to repeat that result at Hockenheim in the October of the same year. With a total of four points, Wolff finished in 13th place in the 2010 standings after enjoying the most successful of her seven seasons in the DTM.

In addition to working with Mercedes-Benz in the DTM, Wolff has been a development driver for the Williams F1 team since the start of 2012. She completed her first Formula 1 test for the team earlier this week.

Susie Wolff: “Driving for Mercedes-Benz AMG in the DTM, one of the best championships in the world, has been an incredible journey that started seven years ago for me and I am very proud to have been part of such a great team. Along the way I have enjoyed some really exciting racing, had some tough fights and met some brilliant people. I am very grateful and feel lucky to have achieved this and will always be thankful for the opportunity Mercedes-Benz AMG and HWA gave me.

“The DTM has been a challenge and it’s disappointing to not have achieved my best results this season. I always pushed hard, however, and I'm proud of what I've achieved in my racing career at the highest level. It’s been an amazing period of my life, not only will I take with me great memories, but also the most special prize - my husband. Most importantly, thank you to all of my fans who have supported me. Be assured I am by no means ready to hang up my helmet yet and am looking forward to exciting new opportunities in the future.”

Norbert Haug, Vice President Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: “It will be a poignant moment for us all to see Susie drive in her final DTM race and conclude her DTM career. For seven seasons, Susie has been an important part of this closely fought championship and every one of her colleagues and rivals will tell you how well, tough and fair she drives. Susie may not have achieved spectacular results in the DTM, but she gave us some highlights in mixed conditions, in the wet and racing wheel to wheel; and her race pace was always better than her starting positions suggested. She earned her place in the DTM against the toughest of competition and Susie is, and remains, a wonderfully skilled and likeable representative of our brand. Thank you Susie, on behalf of us all.”

* Official photo and details courtesy of Mercedes-AMG GmbH *

Copyright © 2012, mercedesgla. All rights reserved.

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David Coulthard to bow out at DTM season finale in Hockenheim

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David Coulthard will line up on the grid for the final time as a DTM driver at the DTM season finale in Hockenheim (19th to 21st October 2012). The former Formula 1 driver is ending his DTM career after three seasons and 33 races in order to concentrate more on his role as a Formula1 expert and commentator for the BBC, the British Broadcasting Corporation, in addition to his other personal and business interests. The 41-year-old Scot has been employed in that capacity at Formula 1 races since 2009 and his opinions are valued by TV audiences and fellow pundits.
Coulthard will remain part of the Mercedes-Benz family as an AMG brand ambassador. He has been busy in this role at press and customer events since 2011, answering queries and chatting with guests. In addition, he has supported AMG’s development team in certain test activities.

Formula 1 World Championship runner-up in 2001, Coulthard moved to the DTM for the 2010 season and was immediately a big hit with fans. He secured his first DTM point at the 2010 season finale competing at Shanghai’s street circuit, where he posted the fastest lap. In the 32 DTM races that the Scot has contested so far, he has secured 16 points and twice posted fastest race lap. He was in third place on the second row of the grid in Valencia last year. Coulthard achieved his best DTM result of the season with fifth place in the season’s showpiece event at the Norisring.

From 1994-2008, Coulthard contested 246 Formula 1 races prior to joining the world’s most popular touring car series. He achieved twelve of his 13 Grand Prix wins in a McLaren Mercedes, including the first victory in the new Silver Arrow era on the 9th March 1997 in Melbourne, Australia. Coulthard, along with team-mate Mika Häkkinen, won the Constructors’ Championship for McLaren Mercedes in 1998, and was runner-up in the world championship in 2001.

For years now, Coulthard has campaigned unstintingly for the Wings for Life Foundation. In his capacity as ambassador, he is a major force in driving the initiative forward worldwide, generating funds for research projects with his hard work. The nationally recognised, not-for-profit foundation was set up in 2004 by Heinz Kinigadner and Dietrich Mateschitz and promotes research into finding a cure for paraplegia caused by spinal cord injuries.

David Coulthard: “I am looking forward to the final race of what has been an exciting season in the DTM. The weekend will be my final opportunity to compete at this level as I will stop racing in the DTM to concentrate on my developing off-track businesses and of course my family. I will continue to be part of the Mercedes family through my role as an AMG brand ambassador. I would like to thank first of all Norbert Haug and his team at Mercedes Motorsport for providing the opportunity, Deutsche Post for their support and their willingness to allow the Wings for Life Foundation to have promotional space on the car, which has helped raise awareness and funding for the research into spinal cord injuries. Thank you, as well, to the HWA and Mücke teams for patiently helping me with the transition from single-seaters to touring cars, and of course to the people who make professional sport sustainable, the fans. I have enjoyed the last three years and I wish the organizers and competitors in DTM continued growth and success with the championship.”

Norbert Haug, Vice President Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: “David is our first F1 winner of the modern era and that victory on 9th March 1997 in Melbourne ensures his place in our motorsport history. David drove successfully for us and our partner McLaren during nine Formula 1 seasons, and still today he is one of the most popular racing drivers in the world. David’s involvement in the DTM has been good for him and for the championship – he is skilled on the race track, and eloquent and analytical in his TV work and as an AMG brand ambassador. He has been a successful member of the Mercedes family for over a decade and a half, and will remain so after his retirement from active racing. An abbreviation from the racing world best summarises what I want to say to David on behalf of everybody: TD – but this time, it stands for ‘Thanks, David’.”

* Official photo and details courtesy of Mercedes-AMG GmbH *

Copyright © 2012, mercedesgla. All rights reserved.

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Official: Michael Schumacher announces retirement from Formula One

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Seven-time Formula One world champion Michel Schumacher today announced his retirement from the sport at the end of the 2012 season during a press conference at the Suzuka circuit in Japan.

Michael Schumacher
“I have decided to retire from Formula One at the end of the season, although I am still able to compete with the best drivers of the world. This is something that makes me proud, and this is part of why I never regretted my comeback. I can be happy with my performance and the fact that I was continuously raising my game during the last three years. But then, at some point it is time to say goodbye.”

“Already during the past weeks and months I was not sure if I would still have the motivation and energy which is necessary to go on; and it is not my style to do anything which I am not 100% convinced about. With today’s decision I feel released from those doubts. In the end, it is not my ambition to just drive around but to fight for victories; and the pleasure of driving is nourished by competitiveness.”

“I said at the end of 2009 that I want to be measured by my success, and this is why I had a lot of criticism in the past three years which partly was justified. It is without doubt that we did not achieve our goal to develop a world championship fighting car within those years. It is also without doubt that I cannot provide a long-term perspective to anyone. But then it is also clear that I can still be very happy about my overall achievements in Formula One.”

“In the past six years I have learned a lot, also about me, and I am thankful for it; for example, that you can open yourself up without losing focus. That losing can be both more difficult and more instructive than winning; something I had lost out of sight sometimes in earlier years. That you have to appreciate to be able to do what you love. That you have to live your convictions. I have opened my horizon, and I am at ease with myself.”

“I would like to thank Daimler, Mercedes-Benz and the team for their trust. But I also would like to thank all my friends, partners and companions, who over many good years in motorsport supported me. But most of all I would like to thank my family for standing always by my side, giving me the freedom to live my convictions and sharing my joy.”

Nico Rosberg
“This is a big loss for our sport. Michael did a huge amount to make Formula One so popular in Germany, and lots of fans switched on their TV sets because of him. He achieved so much. It has been and continues to be something special and a great experience for me to drive with him and against him. In the last three years we pushed the team hard together which will help us in the years to come. I wish him all the best for the future.”

Ross Brawn, Team Principal - MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS
“Having worked with Michael for so many years, it is an emotional day today as he announces his retirement from Formula One for the second, and final, time. We have enjoyed so many experiences together during our time at Benetton, Ferrari and Mercedes, and I feel very proud, honoured and privileged to have had the opportunity to work with Michael so closely. In my opinion, he is the greatest Formula One driver, and the records which he holds in our sport speak volumes for his success and commitment. On behalf of everyone at our Silver Arrows team, we wish Michael all the best with his future plans and extend our sincere thanks to him for his commitment, passion and hard work during our three years together. We have not achieved the results that we would have wished during this time; however Michael’s contribution to our development and the future of our team has been significant. Whatever Michael decides to do next, I am sure that he will be keeping a close eye on our progress in the years to come.”

Norbert Haug, Vice President - Mercedes-Benz Motorsport
“Our team, Mercedes-Benz and Daimler would like to offer our heartfelt thanks to Michael for all his work, his exemplary commitment and his loyalty. For our brand, he was and remains not just a first-class racing driver and, through his record until 2006, the most successful of all time; but also a global idol and, last but not least, a great company ambassador who is admired across the world. Michael began his professional racing career in 1989 as a member of the Mercedes Junior Team in Group C Prototypes, and he will conclude it at the end of this season with our MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS Silver Arrows works team, as he informed first us and then the international media today. Michael did a fantastic job during the build-up phase of our still-young Silver Arrows works team and, although we have not yet achieved our targets in our third season, Michael’s invaluable hard work has established the foundations for future success. For this, we give him our thanks and recognition. All of us in the team - and first and foremost Michael - are working hard to have six more races in which we can show a respectable level of performance together. Thank you, Michael, for everything: it was, and is, a pleasure to work with you.”

~ Official photo and details courtesy of MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS ~

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