Although there have been plenty of speculation on the matter – including the fact that Mercedes wanted to buy McLaren F1 Team completely, not only 40 percent, while the company's CEO Ron Dennis did not agree – Haug insisted the main reason why the joint venture has ended was the fact that McLaren wanted to go their own way with the development of their new street sports car.
The official launch of the new McLaren MP4-12C (powered by an in-house developed bespoke engine) took place last week.
“McLaren wanted to go in their own direction with their street sports car. At Mercedes we have been doing it for many years. It (McLaren's) was not our way and we found an amicable solution,” said Haug in an interview with Spanish newspaper El Pais.
“We continue to supply them with engines but we have created our own team. We are grateful about our many joint successes – only Ferrari was more successful than us (McLaren-Mercedes),” added the Mercedes official.
Mercedes used to own 40 percent of the Formula One team, but after the announcement that they'll start a new team in the series, it was agreed for the shares to be sold back to McLaren progresively. According to McLaren Mercedes' team principal Martin Whitmarsh, a large part of the shares have already been purchased by the British company during the last few months.
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