Lewis Hamilton’s first official day as a Mercedes driver was overshadowed by infighting, denials and chaos that raise serious doubts over his supposed dream move. That is the inescapable conclusion despite the insistence of team principal Ross Brawn that he will not be replaced by McLaren engineer Paddy Lowe, whose services are sought by Mercedes’ German paymasters. Speaking at the team’s British base in Brackley, Brawn said: ‘Paddy’s not coming, no. If I choose to leave then Paddy will come. We have a fall-back plan. Simple as that.’ Instead Niki Lauda, the brusque and bombastic three-time world champion, is reviewing the team’s operation at the behest of the Mercedes board in Stuttgart, where one victory in three seasons is seen as an inadequate return on their £500million investment. To recap briefly: Lauda has just brought in as executive director Toto Wolff, a 41-year-old fellow Austrian previously destined to take charge of Williams. Wolff, it seemed, had already agreed a deal with Lowe which would have seen him leave his £600,000-a-year job as technical director at McLaren to join Williams, before making that Mercedes when he moved across. This manoeuvring can only be interpreted as an attempted coup d’etat. Even if…
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