New Mercedes chassis to be called the 'Mercedes Petronas RB1' !!

[Giuseppe F1]

Stupid name IMO - why would a sponsor get included in the chassis designation? The RB1 stands for 'Ross Brawn 1' but a) looks too similar to the Red Bull chassis designations and b) again, what happens if Ross Brawn leaves....retires....etc, then what, they are going to change the chassis designation theme again to something new and ruin the pattern??

Thought the team were going to go with a chassis called the 'W' something like in the old Silver Arrows days which I would have much preferred!

http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=354452&FS=F1

[nigelred5]

Maybe the deal with Petronas includes an ownership stake?

[Saint Devote]

Stupid name IMO - why would a sponsor get included in the chassis designation? The RB1 stands for 'Ross Brawn 1' but a) looks too similar to the Red Bull chassis designations and b) again, what happens if Ross Brawn leaves....retires....etc, then what, they are going to change the chassis designation theme again to something new and ruin the pattern??

Thought the team were going to go with a chassis called the 'W' something like in the old Silver Arrows days which I would have much preferred!

http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=354452&FS=F1

The RB is clearly an acknowledgement and tribute to the history of the Mercedes team - Brawn won the championship with a Mercedes engine. Whether he stays or leaves does not affect it.

There is precedent for including a sponsor's name - the great Lotus team included John Player Special and it worked, well.

[F1boat]

IMO it will be better if it is again BGP.

[Mark]

IMO it will be better if it is again BGP.

Indeed, if they wanted to acknowledge the heritage of Brawn it should be the BGP2.

[V12]

That would be the 'Mercedes RB1' to you and me then. Like BMW F1.0x, Lotus 72/76/77, etc. I refuse to acknowledge sponsor names (unless they actually own the team like Benetton or Red Bull) and those awkward hybrid names (BMW Sauber, Mercedes Petronas etc.)

I personally would have liked a 'W' designation too. Like Honda reviving the 'RA's. If they wanted to honour Ross Brawn's input they'd have kept it as Brawn-Mercedes.

[leopard]

instead of RB1, I'd prefer RB20 :)

[jens]

RB2 would have been better, continuing the numeration after BGP001. I can understand they don't want to use BGP again (as it was the former name of the team), but if they want to continue the associaton with Mr Brawn, they should get the number right at least. Generally yes, as the abbrevation sounds is identical to Red Bull, I would have preferred something else too (W, MB or whatever).

[maximilian]

Amazing how people always know what would have been better :D

[edv]

I, too, would have liked the 'W' designation, as a nod to the past.

[Mark]

What about MRB2

[ioan]

Idiotic denomination. Just goes to show how little thinking is behind todays marketing process. :\

[Mia 01]

If it´s good, I don´t care the name.

[leopard]

What about MRB2
What does the M stand for? in my personal POV instead of BGP or whatever the name consist of three consonants, two characters of RB sounds better, if we have to make it three characters ARB is good choice, it may stand for Advanced RB or something. However the name already taken for off road 4WD accessories...

[leopard]

If it´s good, I don´t care the name.
Mia... in marketing strategy naming product is extremely important, it may decide market segmentation how market will respond to the product. It's not everything but it creates image to the product.

You may be aware of Electrolux or Lux Royal, people may chose them because it identify luxurious and quality of the product, pricing may come after the quality. We used to set up sales team of that products... lol

[Hondo]

It very much makes a difference whether Ross Brawn stays or goes. To cover all bases, they should have called it the SoB 10. If it turns out to be another world beater it's the Son of Brawn 10, the 10 being for the year of introduction. If it just turns out to be a beater at the back of the grid it's the Son ofa B!tch 10 and they can start again with whom ever they sell it to next year.

[Rollo]

I, too, would have liked the 'W' designation, as a nod to the past.

No, not a nod to the past, but standard practice.

Every Mercedes-Benz passenger car has a Wagennumer. The current A-Class is W169, and the current E-Class is W221. In theory if this actually was a ture Mercedes-Benz it should be about W256 or something.

All this indicates is that Mercedes-Benz doesn't necessarily see the GP team as one of their operations. I don't think their name will last any more than about 5 years max on the cars.

[TMorel]

Maybe they want *their* first car to get the "W" prefix which as Brawn GP built this last year and with the banning of doubleduffusers requiring a rethink/new car then the 2011 car would be all Merc and so get it's W

or maybe some accountant it Stuttgart named it

[Mia 01]

Mia... in marketing strategy naming product is extremely important, it may decide market segmentation how market will respond to the product. It's not everything but it creates image to the product.

You may be aware of Electrolux or Lux Royal, people may chose them because it identify luxurious and quality of the product, pricing may come after the quality. We used to set up sales team of that products... lol

You mean like Mercedes - MS III. That will be proper.

[Valve Bounce]

And I have found a picture of the car after a careful search: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2799537/Mercedes-found-possibly-belonging-to-Nazi-Hermann-Goering.html?OTC-RSS&ATTR=News

[Mark]

What does the M stand for?

Mercedes :mark:

[leopard]

You mean like Mercedes - MS III. That will be proper.

It's not a must, two characters just sounds more ear-catching, for engines we know MP McLaren, TF Toyota, or products like Mazda RX, MX, Tundra DW etc... however it's not a rule...

[leopard]

Mercedes :mark:

ok, acceptable :)

[Mia 01]

It's not a must, two characters just sounds more ear-catching, for engines we know MP McLaren, TF Toyota, or products like Mazda RX, MX, Tundra DW etc... however it's not a rule...

Do you know what I mean by "MS"?

[leopard]

Do you know what I mean by "MS"?
'Miss' if not 'Mrs'..., eh?

[Mia 01]

'Miss' if not 'Mrs'..., eh?

Missus :o

[ioan]

What does the M stand for?

Is that a serious question? :\

[Mia 01]

Is that a serious question? :\


It stands for itselfs, And MS also does.

[Firstgear]

What about MRB2
That sounds more like a sequel to a Mr. Bean movie. :p

[leopard]

Missus :o

just my guess :)
what I knew MP commonly stands for Mike Papa...

[leopard]

Is that a serious question? :\

just asking, you can consider it's serious or not.

[Cooper_S]

That would be the 'Mercedes RB1' to you and me then. Like BMW F1.0x, Lotus 72/76/77, etc. I refuse to acknowledge sponsor names (unless they actually own the team like Benetton or Red Bull) and those awkward hybrid names (BMW Sauber, Mercedes Petronas etc.)

I personally would have liked a 'W' designation too. Like Honda reviving the 'RA's. If they wanted to honour Ross Brawn's input they'd have kept it as Brawn-Mercedes.


But in the case of BMW.Sauber... Sauber owned 20% of the team he was not a sponsor so it was right and proper to call them BMW.Sauber F1.0x's

[Rollo]

That would be the 'Mercedes RB1' to you and me then. Like BMW F1.0x, Lotus 72/76/77, etc. I refuse to acknowledge sponsor names (unless they actually own the team like Benetton or Red Bull) and those awkward hybrid names (BMW Sauber, Mercedes Petronas etc.)

So I take it that you object to MP4-25 then? MP4 standing for Marlboro Project 4?

What of the McLaren TAG? The Sauber Petronas? Williams Mechachrome and Benetton Playlife?

[Giuseppe F1]

So I take it that you object to MP4-25 then? MP4 standing for Marlboro Project 4?

What of the McLaren TAG? The Sauber Petronas? Williams Mechachrome and Benetton Playlife?

Those are the TEAM names not CHASSIS names???

The chassis werent called Sauber Petronas.....the team was, and then the chassis was called the Sauber C20 etc........ditto Williams Mechachrome.....that was the team and the cars were still designated the FW20, FW21 etc.....

[Giuseppe F1]

The more I think of it, the more the 'RB1' name designation for the new Mercedes chassis is STILL A COMPLETELY STUPID IDEA and I am kinda shocked at Mercedes-Benz who are usually very careful to harness and promote their history, prestige and brand image.

Every single press release since the new team was announced, be it from Haug, Zeutsche, or the drivers Schuey and Rosberg....every press release has made specific mention to the term 'Silver Arrows'.

The McLaren-Mercedes' have essentially been Silver Arrows' since 1997 and in those 15 or so years, Mercedes havent really done much specific marketing activity mentioning McLaren as a Silver Arrow in press releases etc.

The fact this time round there is always mention of 'Silver Arrows' at every opportunity suggests this is all being carefully co-ordinated up to the launch of the car and the new team which will of course be held at the Mercedes Museum in Stuttgart, home of where all the legendary 'Silver Arrows' are housed.......so, why call the car at RB1 in deference to Ross Brawn and not call it the 'W' something as in all the historic Silver Arrows??

As much as I love and respect Ross, he wont be around at the team forever and if the Mercedes team want to further harness their Silver Arrows bloodline in the decades to come, then dont already name it something which will inevitable have to be renamed somewhere down the line and so ruin the continuity of that bloodline. They are wiping out a great opportunity to tap into all that hard-established history.

Mercedes are much more smart on image than this usually so I can only think that they are calling the 2010 car a RB1 as it was still in effective conceived as a 'Brawn' before Mercedes bought in, and from 2011, when we have the first REAL Mercedes car penned under Mercedes ownership, we will ho to having the W designation again........hopefully

[Rollo]

Those are the TEAM names not CHASSIS names???

The chassis werent called Sauber Petronas.....the team was, and then the chassis was called the Sauber C20 etc........ditto Williams Mechachrome.....that was the team and the cars were still designated the FW20, FW21 etc.....

To review your original post:

I refuse to acknowledge sponsor names (unless they actually own the team like Benetton or Red Bull) and those awkward hybrid names (BMW Sauber, Mercedes Petronas etc.)

Petronas in Sauber Petronas was not a "team name" but were Ferrari engines rebadged. As for Playlife, Playlife is a fashion house, who rebaged engines serviced by Mecachrome and originally built by Renault.

The "team name" for 1998 (FW20) was officially "Winfield Williams Mecachrome F1."