The news that Paddy Lowe will join Mercedes for the 2014 season is well known, but the role the McLaren employee will play isn’t.
However recently appointed executive director Toto Wolff has hinted that Lowe is indeed the intended successor to team principal Ross Brawn who is expected to leave at the end of the season following a disappointing few seasons for Mercedes despite a win in China last year.
“Based on last year’s results, Niki [Lauda] asked Paddy if he wanted to work for us,” Wolff told Die Welt.
“Ross responded totally professionally and said ‘For three years I have not brought the results that were expected. Therefore it is clear that you would look around for a successor’,” added the Austrian.
Lowe has been removed from any future projects at McLaren to ensure their secrets aren’t carried over to Mercedes, but Wolff isn’t too concerned by Brawn doing the same should he remain in the sport with a rival outfit.
“This is a very professional environment, with contracts containing confidentiality clauses,” he explained.
“I do not believe that men of the calibre of Ross Brawn or Paddy Lowe will go to their next team and just tell everything to the competition. I don’t think we need to worry about that.”
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