Mercedes identify 'big crisis' moments in 'rare bombshell' reflection

Mercedes chief communications officer Bradley Lord has highlighted the "big crisis" moments which were most interesting for the team to handle.

Having joined the German marque in 2011, Lord has been present for most of the Brackley-based squad's contemporary F1 tenure.

That period, in part due to the team's success and high profile in F1, has involved a number of "super intense" situations to deal with. However, Lord maintains they are the "most interesting times" and "incredibly rewarding" to manage.

In particular, Lord underlined two key moments in the team's current 15-year run in F1: the fallout surrounding its Pirelli tyre test controversy in 2013 and, unsurprisingly, the aftermath of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in 2021.

"I think the most interesting times are when the s**t is hitting the fan and you’re trying to deal with the big adrenaline moments and, sometimes, the big crisis," he told PlanetF1.com.

"I’ve been very, very fortunate in my career not to be part of a team that’s had to manage the worst situation that you can face in F1, which is a very serious injury or fatality. Knock on wood, I very much hope never to have to do that either.

"But when I talk crisis, it’s the big incidents going against us, or big political controversies – those are super intense, and, because of that pressure, are always incredibly rewarding moments.

"Thinking back to the tyre test that we did in 2013, and then the sort of FIA fall-out of that, that was an exhilarating few days and process to be part of.

"I look back on Abu Dhabi 2021 and how we handled the aftermath of that and, actually, the decision to say nothing and to not communicate was, hopefully, a powerful and elegant way to handle such a difficult situation where no words would have been sufficient to express how we were feeling."

Rosberg's one and out

One notably-rewarding situation to navigate occurred after the season finale - at the same circuit - five years prior, when Nico Rosberg announced his sudden retirement from F1, having just secured the 2016 drivers' championship over team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

Referring to the moment as a "bombshell", Lord recalled the rarity of handling a story that had not already leaked to the press.

"Another highlight was Nico’s retirement," he said. "Being in a room where you knew a bombshell was about to land and no one in the room had a clue that it was coming.

"That was a really memorable moment. It’s rare in our sport that you have a story that doesn’t leak beforehand. That was one of the few occasions where we had something that hadn’t gone anywhere, and when he announced his retirement, that was a real shock for those in the room, without it being telegraphed beforehand in any way.

"So that was an interesting thing to observe and to be part of. Crafting those press releases late the night before, after he told us that news – that was a fun time as well."