Mercedes is said to have shown interest in Adrian Newey and Sebastian Vettel

Lewis Hamilton is not the only champion whose services Mercedes secured for 2013. Indeed, following the official announcement of the British driver’s transfer before the Japanese Grand Prix, the German team announced the arrival of Niki Lauda, stating in a press release that the triple Austrian champion will bring his extensive experience in a role as non-executive chairman of the team’s board, thereby strengthening Mercedes AMG Petronas’ capabilities significantly.

The former Ferrari and McLaren driver reportedly played a role as an intermediary between Mercedes and Bernie Ecclestone for the signing of the upcoming Concorde Agreements by the star-branded team. He might even have helped persuade Lewis Hamilton to join the Brackley team, although he denied this in late September on BBC Radio 5 Live: « I spoke with him a few times, but I didn’t really have to convince him. »

But the Austrian, and consequently Mercedes, would also have been interested in Adrian Newey, the main architect of Red Bull’s success thanks to the cars he designs. Mr. Lauda sought to find out how much longer Adrian Newey was under contract with us, reveals Helmut Marko in the Bild. The grey eminence of Dietrich Mateschitz, owner of Red Bull Racing, insists on the fact that there is an existing contract to be respected, the latter running, according to some sources, until 2014. And what would he do at Mercedes anyway? With Ross Brawn, there are three other technical directors. There are too many chiefs and not enough Indians.

But Helmut Marko goes further by stating that the British engineer was not Mercedes’ only target: « They also wanted to have Vettel. » However, who would be surprised by the German team’s potential interest in the reigning double German world champion?