So the rumour that has run for pretty much the whole season has finally been confirmed, Brawn is leaving Mercedes at the end of the year, which is splitting overall control between Wolff and Lowe. It's not every day someone with Brawns experience and WCC/WDC track record comes up for grbs, so who will he end up working for next year?
Ross Brawn to leave Mercedes at the end of the current F1 season By Andrew Benson & Eddie Jordan BBC F1 Ross Brawn will leave his position as Mercedes team principal at the end of the Formula 1 season. Brawn and Mercedes have failed to reach an agreement on a role in which he would have been happy to stay at the team, sources close to Mercedes said. Mercedes will now be run in tandem by their two executive directors, Toto Wolff and Paddy Lowe, along with non-executive chairman Niki Lauda. Both Mercedes and Brawn refused to comment on the development. Brawn's impending departure follows months of talks between Mercedes bosses and the man who masterminded Michael Schumacher's seven world titles at Benetton and Ferrari. Brawn also headed Jenson Button's title-winning 2009 season, entering privately as Brawn GP following Honda's withdrawal from the sport. Mercedes eventually took over the team for 2010. Play media The Formula 1 career of Ross Brawn The German company had originally signed Lowe, who was formerly the technical director of McLaren, last winter with the intention of him replacing Brawn with immediate effect. But plans then changed, with Mercedes saying they wanted a 'soft transition', that they would like Brawn to stay and that he was in control of his own destiny. Lauda pushed for Brawn to remain at the team, but the stumbling block was over the level of authority he would have. Brawn, 58, wanted to stay in overall charge, as he made clear at the Japanese Grand Prix earlier this month. However, sources close to the team say that option was never open. Mercedes believe a single team principal is an outdated concept given the complexities of modern F1. They were hoping to persuade Brawn to stay on in another role that did not involve the day-to-day running of the team. Negotiations reached an impasse and Brawn decided he had no option but to leave. “ Any successful F1 team has to have a senior reference and that's the big question. We need to make sure if I'm to remain here that I'm the reference ” Ross Brawn Wolff, the executive director (business), will now run the political and financial sides of the team, while Lowe, the executive director (technical), will be in charge of the sporting and technical aspects. Wolff is also the director of Mercedes' motorsport operation. Brawn's future is unclear. He has emphasised that he would not try to line up a new job elsewhere while still in his present role, but he is now free to find one if he wishes to continue working in F1. He has been linked with roles running Honda's new F1 programme when the Japanese manufacturer returns to the sport in 2015 as engine partner to McLaren, as well as to a position with governing body the FIA. FIA president Jean Todt used to work with Brawn at Ferrari, in roles very similar to those now to be occupied by Wolff and Lowe at Mercedes. Brawn moving to Honda is considered unlikely by some insiders, who say he had grown frustrated with certain aspects of working with the company when he ran their F1 team in 2007-8, particularly dealing with Honda management and repeated trips to Japan. Claims Brawn will move to McLaren, though, are incorrect, according to sources.
Bad move by Mercedes. I'd be a bit concerned if I were Whitmarsh, but could he possibly be reunited with Ferrari? They shot themselves in the foot by not making him principle after Todt IMO.
Brawn will be definitely missed but it's not the end of the world for Mercedes. Let's see what Paddy Lowe can accomplish before we start doubting Mercedes.
We'll have to see how it pans out, but its not necessarily bad news for either party. Had been coming for a few months now so not to much of a shock in the end.
nah, I think it would've been a shock if he hadn't left tbh, but where will he go? Personally I'd like him to do something mad like Caterham or Marussia, but seeing him at Williams wouldn't surprise me
Considering the Mercedes board got rid of Schumacher and Haug, Brawn was always going to be next for failure replacement Plan A. Brawn was rubbish for Mercedes so good riddance IMO, Ferrari or McLaren can have him.
It seems your drivers disagree with you: http://www.f1zone.net/news/mercedes-drivers-want-brawn-to-stay/20681/
I wonder if Lewis will see out his contract if next years merc is crap. Should we start the rumour early? I hear he may team up with Alonso there again, who is happy to go now Ron is no longer in charge
He'll not hang around if the car is crap. It could be possible to see him switch teams by the end of next season if both the car is iffy and Brawn moves on. Urgh... I was (still are) hoping for more from this partnership. I think most of the big teams outside of RBR are being way too jumpy. So many key personnel changes are only going to continue to hinder them, especially going In to the new regs.
Mercedes retain Brawn hope Mercedes haven't given up hope of persuading Ross Brawn to do a U-turn on his decision to leave the team at the end of the season, according to Sky Sports F1's Martin Brundle. Sky Sports News sources understand that Brawn, after a year of uncertainty over his long-term future at Brackley, has decided to leave the team at the end of the current campaign with Executive Directors Toto Wolff and Paddy Lowe effectively sharing the traditional Team Principal role held by the former Ferrari and Benetton technical mastermind into 2014. However, it appears Mercedes are not about to let the renowned 58-year-old leave without a fight. After a conversation with Mercedes' Non-Excectiive Chairman ahead of this weekend's Abu Dhabi GP, Sky F1's Martin Brundle tweeted: "Speaking with Niki Lauda last night he's determined to keep Ross Brawn at Merc if he can. That will take some doing to change Ross's mind." Brawn made clear to Sky Sports F1 at the Japanese GP earlier this month that he required a "very clear definition of who is in charge" before he decided whether or not to extend his stay at Brackley, where he has been Team Principal since joining the team when they were still Honda in late 2007. Lauda has already put on record his desire to see Brawn remain at the helm and on Tuesday night claimed that, should he stay, then he would retain his current role. If not, the Austrian suggests the Englishman will retire despite already being linked with numerous rival teams, and a role overseeing F1 at the FIA. "I am trying everything I can to encourage and motivate him to stay. I want him to do it. But it is not my decision; it is his decision," the three-times World Champion told the Daily Mail. "If he stays he will be team principal - nothing else - or he will retire. "With a new car and new engine, all the changes next year, I hope he will not leave." And amid by far Mercedes' most competitive season yet since buying Brawn's own title-winning squad in 2010, Lauda questioned: "Anyway, why would he decide to go now, when we are busy fighting in the constructors' championship for second or third place? We are not putting any pressure on him at all." However, F1's commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone suspects there is no going back for either Mercedes or Brawn now. "I think they have decided that Ross is going, and that seems to be the end of it," he told the same newspaper.
Ross wants to be the boss but how can he do that at Mercedes with the ridiculous amount of bosses they have? (Lauda, Lowe, Wolff).
I thought it was interesting that Lauda said that Brawn will either stay or retire! Unless that has been lost in translation it sounds like Merc will not let him go to another team.
I think we all knew this was happening. With it happening so late in the season, I think another sabbatical might be in order. I certainly don't think anyone else could afford him right now (definitely not Williams, probably not Sauber, and I don't think Lotus), and as much as the Mclaren link makes sense with Honda, rumour has it he became very frustrated by Honda's constantly flying him out to Japan (and the ridiculously uncompetitive cars they gave him in 2007 and 2008 probably didn't help matters). I'm going to put my money on a surprise return to Ferrari in a few years.
Sabbatical sounds sensible to me, unless he already knows where he's going next. Retirement? I don't know, many retirements turn out to be sabbaticals anyway.
