Mercedes to buy out McLaren?
This is only a rumour, so I am not sure that I should be posting it, but here goes. This could be pretty earth shattering as if Mercedes does buy out McLaren, what are the chances that we see McLaren branded cars in F1? McLaren as we know it would be over, and the team would be Mercedes only. Right now, Mercedes owns 40% of McLaren, Bahraini holding company Mumtalakat owns 30%, Ron Dennis 15% and Mansour Ojjeh 15%. This is only my speculation, but I could see Ron Dennis or Mansour Ojjeh not selling out as they are partners and I would bet probably want the team to remain named McLaren, but this is only my guess, I could be totally wrong. Dennis and Ojjeh sold 30% of McLaren to Mumtalakat last year, and this critical move may prove to be the death of McLaren as we know it. Auto Motor und Sport claims not only that the deal is being considered by Mercedes, but that the deal is essentially done. Then again, maybe all this is bullshit. Anyways, shocking news. I think that it would be a shame for a name as illustrious and successful as McLaren to be banished to the history books, but that's just my 2 cents. ON the other hand, I do like to see manufactures in F1 as I like to see the battles between manufacturers and they also provide a stability not often found with privateers - at least in the past 20 or so years. From Autoblog.