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Mercedes is looking to the future to recreate its past.
The once-dominant team in Formula 1 finds itself lagging behind rival Red Bull on the grid, but it’s investing $87 million in its facility and staff in Brackley, England, in the hopes of creating a long-term advantage.
The team wants to attract top talent by looking beyond the standards of F1.
“We are not orienting ourselves toward our competitors in our sport,” Mercedes principal and CEO Toto Wolff told Motorsport.com. “We are orienting ourselves toward the best technology campuses that we know from the United States.”
The changes to the facility — which Mercedes has used since 2017 and purchased last year — will include office buildings, restaurants, and gyms. The facility will use 100% renewable energy and aim to reduce water consumption by 50% per person per day, as well as 60% of office waste.
Wolff wants a facility where people want to work, especially with F1’s $135 million cost cap challenging the efficiency of the team once known for lavish spending: “We need to attract and retain the best people. We’ve seen with the cost cap that sometimes we are limited in the possibilities of paying people the same as any other industries.”
Red Bull principal Christian Horner said last month that he believes six F1 teams violated the cost cap last year.
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