After achieving a multitude of race and championship victory’s all over the world, the Mercedes AMG brand has become synonymous with success.
It has been announced that there will be a re-structuring of how both the sportscar teams and Formula 1 teams work, with the plan being to work more closely with each other.
As the new head of Mercedes-AMG Motorsport, Christoph Sagemüller will have the overall responsibility if managing both sides of the brand and therefore will also be the connection to the Formula 1 team’s marketing and commercial activities. Sagemüller will work in close cooperation with Stefan Wendl who is the head of Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing, which is set to be expanded further.
With the formula 1 season opener being so close at the end of the month and the sportscar season getting ready to get underway, Mercedes-AMG is embarking on a new chapter, on how they will run their motorsport activities. From now on, the various involvements at the racetrack will be interconnected even more closely.
To make this work a new position called the ‘head of Mercedes-AMG Motorsport’ has been created and will be taken up by Christoph Sagemüller. The 33-year-old has been working in the company since 2011 and, among others, has been responsible for the marketing of the GT customer sport programme which began in 2010 and has successfully expanded since, for several years already.
With this re-structuring, the bond between the sportscar and Formula 1 teams for Mercedes has grown even stronger, alongside strengthening various departments shows the brands renewed commitment to motorsport.
The structure of the Formula 1 team will remain unchanged, However, in Affalterbach, activities especially in the marketing division are expanded. With Stefan Wendl being in place as the head of Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing, it is the clear goal is to build on success already achieved in the sportscar world.
Today, Mercedes-AMG’s Customer Racing Programme ranks among the largest and most successful in the business achieving over 900 class wins and 200 championship teams through various customer teams. With the Mercedes-AMG GT3 and the Mercedes-AMG GT4, both having proven their competitiveness in an impressive way.
In line with the announced re-structuring, the involvement of e-sports will be integrated further into the Mercedes AMG brand, with the German team believing in e-sports as a platform, providing a training opportunity for drivers and a platform for e-sports drivers.
The world of E-sports is an environment in which Mercedes-AMG Motorsport is active already : next to the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Esports Team, which has been running since 2018, numerous customer teams are also currently participating in high-ranking sim racing championships with the virtual Mercedes-AMG GT3 and GT4.
Furthermore, training courses with the Mercedes-AMG GT3 and Mercedes-AMG GT4 and even racing licenses will be offered in close connection with the AMG Driving Academy. As an interface or even as an entry into real-world motorsport, the popular Racetrack Trainings fit into Mercedes’s Philosophy.
Sagemüller states that this restructuring of Mercedes-AMG Motorsport is an important step towards the security of the brand in the future, with various different departments working together at an even closer level both strategically and operationally.
Christoph Sagemüller – head of Mercedes-AMG Motorsport: “The restructuring of Mercedes-AMG’s motorsport activities is an important step towards the future in many ways: on one hand, the various departments will be working together even closer at strategical and operational level in the future, which creates synergy effects and strengthens our consistent brand presence. “
Also, ideas like E-sports, which has significantly grown in popularity over the previous few years will be able to benefit from this restructuring. Sagemüller is looking forward to personally overseeing this process and to ensure further ensure success for Mercedes-AMG Motorsport.
“On the other hand, under the Mercedes-AMG Motorsport banner, future-oriented segments like for instance e-sports will be integrated more strongly and can benefit from existing structures. I am looking forward to the responsible task to guide this comprehensive process from now on and to further promote the success of Mercedes-AMG Motorsport.”
Wendl acknowledges the success of the customer sports programme in sportscar racing, resulting in various different achievements becoming one of the most important pillars for the Mercedes brand to function effectively.
Since their origination, Mercedes have continuously expanded, to optimize how they work for Customer Teams and the German brand plans to continue this. Increasing their relationship with the Formula 1 side of the operation will reap rewards and the team start the season in an optimistic fashion.
Stefan Wendl, head of Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing – “Over the past eleven years, our customer sports programme has resulted into numerous international achievements and is one of the structural pillars of Mercedes-AMG’s involvement in motorsport.
“From the outset, it has been our philosophy to continuously expand the programme and to consistently optimize it for our Customer Racing Teams and, of course, we will continue that. As a result of the closer connection to our Formula 1 colleagues, we will certainly see further synergies. We are looking forward to the cooperation and are anticipating the start of the season with a decent amount of optimism.”
