Brawn leaving Mercedes at the end of the season?

[PeterJB]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/24725406

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.

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Mercedes believe a single team principal is an outdated concept given the complexities of modern F1.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.

 

[GOTMAXPOWER]

So Brawn, Smedley and Massa all at Williams next year?

 

[Brend]

Brawn leaving is pretty ironic considering that was one of Hamilton's main reasons to move there.

 

[Tom]

Brawn leaving is pretty ironic considering that was one of Hamilton's main reasons to move there.

My thoughts exactly. I do wonder where he would go though, very interesting...

 

[Ninners]

I don't think this is confirmed yet, Eddie wrote it too, so he may be saying that Brawn will leave, it's not confirmed, it's just sources close to Merc that say so, I will wait for the final decision.

 

[SVT Cobra GT]

Quite surprised at this to be honest. Can't see him moving back to Ferrari or going to McLaren. Red Bull? No way.

If he's wanting to stay in F1 Lotus or Williams would be his best choices I think.

 

[Ardius]

This was on the cards as soon as Mercedes started hiring every technical director in F1. And with people like Lauda and Wolff onboard he's hardly going to stay as team principal/team leader for very long. Reportedly he wanted to stay in charge of the team (and who could blame him considering his achievements?).

McLaren, Williams or pretty much anyone would do very well to employ his services, but he'll likely want to be in charge - are people like Martin Whitmarsh, Claire Williams, etc willing to drop control of the team? Are people like Pat Symonds wiling to work under him?

I think the most likely destination is a role with the FIA. But who knows really.

 

[AnAL0G]

I'd love to see him at either Williams or McLaren if there's a way to work it out.

 

[BKGlover]

Umm, wasn't this announced back around Germany or Spain?

 

[AnAL0G]

Umm, wasn't this announced back around Germany or Spain?

It popped up in my F1 newsfeed just today.

 

[BKGlover]

Hmm. Maybe it was rumored, or likely but not yet sorted out.

 

[AnAL0G]

This just came up in my feed now.

Niki Lauda 'Trying Everything' to Keep Brawn

 

[Ninners]

Here's more from Niki

Mercedes non-executive chairman Niki Lauda has dismissed reports Ross Brawn will leave the team at the end of this season.

According to the BBC, Brawn has decided not to stay on as team principal in 2014 with negotiations having ‘reached an impasse’, and as such he has come to the conclusion he has ‘no option but to leave’.

Lauda, however, has insisted that talks are still on-going: “I hate all this bull****,” Lauda told British newspaper, The Daily Mail, when asked for a reaction to the BBCstory.

“The speculation is total rubbish. The situation is absolutely clear: I spoke to Ross a while ago and we agreed that he will come back to me after the final race in Brazil to tell me whether he wants to stay or go.”

“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,” Lauda added. “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.

“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,” Lauda continued.

Brawn himself meanwhile also seemed to imply recently that no decision had yet been made.

“There is a transition going on [after the recruitment of Toto Wolff and Paddy Lowe]. We’re just determining what will be the best timing for that. I want the team to be in the best possible place for next year, so I think when the time is right we’ll let everyone know what we’re doing. But at the present time that’s all I want to say on the matter,” Brawn told reporters last Friday ahead of the Indian Grand Prix at the Buddh International Circuit.