Lowe, of course, is the second McLaren man to join the Mercedes team after Lewis Hamilton signed up with the Brackley-based squad late last year.
During this interim year, Lowe will remain employed by McLaren but be put on “gardening leave.”
Taking his place will be McLaren’s current Director of Engineering, Tim Goss.
Mercedes AMG is yet to announce Lowe’s involvement with the team, though there are rumors Team Principal Ross Brawn may quit the team, perhaps at the end of the 2013 season.
Brawn is reported to be already unhappy with the recent appointment of F1 legend Niki Lauda as Chairman of the team and Austrian businessman Toto Wolff as Director of Motorsport at Mercedes-Benz. And the appointment of Lowe will only complicate matters further.
The BBC is reporting that Wolff and Lauda will analyze the current structure and make changes if they perceive there to be any weak links.
Mercedes-Benz has been disappointed with the performance of its F1 team, which has managed to rack up just one win during its first three years. This is meant to be one of the main reasons that led to Norbert Haug, former head of motorsport at Mercedes-Benz, having his contract ended after 22 years.
Brawn, too, could suffer the same fate despite having been one of the driving forces behind Michael Schumacher's seven world titles and having overseen his own Brawn GP team take the championship title in 2009 thanks to the efforts of Jenson Button.
Stay tuned for an update.
