Cash on delivery – Pitpass.com

As the moon pulls the sea water with it in tides that they cannot fight, there are times, dear reader, when I follow an article because a coda is required to finish the piece neatly.

Sweet echoes of the original must hop around the cathedral walls of the prestigious Pitpass Towers one last time as tender thoughts allowing the fearsome cats to hum in unison with the keystroke of the keyboards.

Palace Pitpass is a happy realm that is spread all over the world, held together by the dancing electrons that tirelessly stick us together over the Internet.

This coda is an in-depth look at the overall cost cap, international corporate structure, and the slow-motion train wreckage that makes the FIA ​​rules. Based on the concepts bouncing through the corridors of my mind after the article on “Magic Squares”, I beg you to sit back and let these variations of a theme wash through your head for a few minutes of bright night-time reflection .. .

There is no company that is simply called “Mercedes”. The ultimate parent company is Daimler AG, which is often referred to as the Daimler Group. This group includes many companies that have been liberally dispersed over the decades in many sectors of transportation, engineering, defense, and aerospace.

The Daimler Group and Mercedes-Benz (the road company) both have their headquarters in Stuttgart in Baden-Württemberg, a hilly region of southern Germany. Mercedes-AMG is headquartered a few kilometers away in Affalterbach.

That’s just the headliners. Daimler also owns Fuso, Western Star, Freightliner, Smart and Setra as well as a host of others in the transportation universe. Then there are financing and leasing companies within the Reich as well as an excellent museum experience a bit away from the Neckar in the center of Stuttgart.

Daimler-Benz Aerospace previously existed as a wholly owned segment of Daimler AG, but then merged with Aerospatiale-Matra from France (an explosion from the F1 past – Ed) and CASA from Spain to form EADS, which then changed its name to Airbus. The Daimler Group then sold its stake, and Airbus now has a network of international owners.

The Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team is headquartered in Brackley, UK, and one third is owned by Mercedes-Benz, Toto Wolff and the British chemical company Ineos.

Ineos? A huge chemical company founded by Sir Jim Ratcliffe. It comprises more than twenty independent company units with their own boards and operating models. These include a joint venture with PetroChina, based in the Dongcheng district of Beijing, and an automotive adventure in the upcoming Ineos Grenadier, a remix of the Land Rover Defender concept that was supposed to be built in Wales but now in Hambach, France, powered by BMW to be built.

Squint already?

So we have company within company in Germany, France, UK, US, Spain and China, as well as a cameo role for Wales, all of which are linked to the Mercedes-AMG F1 team. Together they address automotive, powertrain, chemical coatings, fuels, lubricants, finance, and more.

Then we got them all busy across international borders selling products, researching and developing products, using each other’s products, forming joint ventures, signing letters of intent and taking full advantage of tax breaks, R&D dollars for dollar matching with governments, governments Incentives for relocation, employment and partnerships with universities. Amortization of Charities, Marketing Exercises, Employee Incentive Plans, and Adventures. Oh, and the annual favorite of all accountants, the “one-time restructuring charge”.

Keep your beating heart under control! The wild world of corporate and accounting can be a wild ride, dear reader, so please read on with determination!

Mercedes-AMG High Performance Powertrains is the former engineering company Ilmor, which was founded in 1983 by Mario Illien and Paul Morgan. This is now owned by the Daimler Group independently of the Mercedes-AMG F1 team.

The amazing split-turbo technology in the Mercedes drivetrain has its origins in the research and development of the Daimler truck division, which has a long tradition in the manufacture of turbos for truck engines. This technology was then further developed by Mercedes before being drawn into the powertrain company that is now working on it. With me so far?

So now that we’ve established this simple corporate landscape, let’s hypothesize our intrepid FIA forensic scientist to determine the cost cap.

Please imagine this scenario leading into the 2022 season …

Toto (because it is he, the ring fool above all) to the engine room: “Scotty! We need more power!”

Scotty (Head of Powertrains) replies: “But Cap’n, you will burn the engines!”

To which Toto’s answer is, “Well then, start researching, designing, developing, testing and producing a new one that will kick French, Austrian and Italian butts next season!”

“On it, sir! Usual mix of accountants, tax professionals and attorneys supporting the team?”

“Of course. Toto out.”

So Scotty forms his team focused on making the next great engine.

At first he lacks engineers for turbo research. Scotty makes a quick phone call to the local university and they have a couple of PhD students working on ceramic bearings who would love to be posted. You join the team. Then a quick phone call to Daimler Trucks, and yes, they have some next-generation materials research that they are happy to share to give the doctoral students a kick-start. In fact, they also like to use their supercomputer time for simulations and already have test stands in Germany on which prototypes can run.

Another quick phone call and Ineos confirms that one of their American companies is working on synthetic oil with incredible high temperature properties. The Ineos lady also reminds Scotty to call the paint department when she heard during a video call from the executive team last week that they have a new coating that mimics shark skin and, as a result, improves surface currents, reducing drag. Sounds like something for the racing cars. Scotty promises to look into that too.

Meanwhile, Daimler Trucks is also employing some local university students as research assistants and has secured a dollar-for-dollar budget matching from the local government for cutting-edge research. Since the work is “blue sky”, they also want to apply for tax relief for the operating costs of the plant. To further improve the situation, the local state government recently cut business taxes so they can stay instead of moving to Portugal. So the research department is currently running with a fantastic rate of return for them!

Scotty puts them in contact with the PetroChina research department in Beijing so that they can think about optimizing fuel consumption in the new generation of turbo units.

Six months later, the global team is very happy with themselves. The last prototypes, built by another Daimler AG company, which comes from Poland because of the high local tax rates and low labor costs, hum to themselves during another successful race track simulation on the test bench in Great Britain. All initial work on the test bench was carried out in Germany on the basis of the modeling at UCLA, but this final stage of the pre-series tests is carried out at the headquarters of Mercedes-AMG High Performance Powertrains in Brixworth.

At the end of a very positive meeting of the Engineering Lead Team, Scotty thanks all employees and confirms that the first production items are ready for production. The first casting takes place in the factory in Poland. Molecular surface treatment is used in Hamburg. The fluids are provided by Ineos from its advanced synthetic research laboratory in Fort Worth, Texas, while PetroChina uses a collaboration agreement with BP to manufacture the new fuel at its Humber, UK facility.

All of these items are then shipped to Brixworth for finishing, testing and assembly. Mercedes-AMG High Performance Powertrains will then assemble the entire power plant and deliver it to the Mercedes F1 Team and their other racing partners.

Tired but full of sense of achievement, Scotty turns to the accountants and lawyers who have been playing Candy Crush and World of Warcraft at the other end of the conference room up to this point.