The universal acclaim that greeted Michael Schumacher's emergence from retirement to a return to Grand Prix racing has run into a wall of disillusion in, above all places, his homeland Germany.
Sour notes are echoing from both the Daimler-Mercedes hierarchy and from the company's shopfloor in the light of Schumacher's £7million-a-year (Dh41.5 million) wage and the team's £200 million outlay at a time when workers are being laid off and there is a shift from Germany to build cars in foreign factories in a cost-cutting campaign.
The parent company, Daimler Works Council, is critical of Mercedes F1's decisions and leader Uwe Werner, citing widespread protests, said: "Schumacher's salary is hard to justify when some of the manufacturing plants and, therefore, jobs are being transferred overseas.
"We would have understood better if Mercedes had withdrawn from the expensive business of F1 altogether and followed the departures of Honda, BMW and Toyota."
When Mercedes bought a majority stake in reigning champions Brawn GP a month ago, Daimler councillor Erich Klemm snapped: "In these difficult times the company should invest in better marketing of its real cars."
And Essen-based automotive industry expert Ferdinand Dudenhoffer agrees: "Mercedes is a company for which sportiness is not a selling point, but rather security and quality. It doesn't need to throw millions at F1.
"Why would a customer decide to buy a Mercedes because of their involvement in Formula One? Every private car will have to be sold for much more money to finance the company's involvement in F1."
No sympathy
They are arguments that find no sympathy from Mercedes Motorsport boss Norbert Haug. He is convinced that all the opposites are true and commercial benefits will accrue from the race team's achievements and race legend Schumacher's profile.
He said: "We believe we know how to invest our money and the whole F1 engagement, Michael and all, will do wonders, sell a lot of cars and give worldwide recognition to the quality of the three-pointed star."
And his chief executive Dieter Zetsche said: "There are now only three manufacturers left in F1 — Mercedes, Ferrari and, to a much lesser degree, Renault, and it would be a missed opportunity not to take advantage of the global exposure with Middle Eastern and Asian markets in particular ripe to be tapped."
In Italy voices have been raised against Schumacher for his "betrayal" in deserting Ferrari for Mercedes, but the Prancing Horse team spokesman Luca Colajanni revealed: "I say the same as President Montezemolo — all the best. From now on he is an opponent and we always try to beat our opponents."
Ted Macauley is a UK- based writer specialising in motorsport.
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