Danner tells Lauda to fire Mercedes staff

A German F1 pundit has advised Niki Lauda to take an axe to Mercedes’ current personnel lineup.

Lauda, the great Austrian triple world champion, has been signed on as Mercedes’ non-executive chairman — effectively a decision-making link between the German marque’s Stuttgart headquarters and the racing team in the UK.

So far, he has negotiated Mercedes’ new Concorde Agreement deal and lured Lewis Hamilton onto the team for 2013.

RTL commentator Christian Danner, a former driver, now wants Lauda to sack staff.

"The people who built this car should really all be fired," he told Bild newspaper.

"It can’t be that you drive all around the world for nine months only to find that your car is as fast as a Toro Rosso," added Danner.

Danner said it is now up to Lauda to put things right.

"He is responsible to make the next decisions. And those decisions will primarily be about the personnel."