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Mercedes believe a single team principal is an outdated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.
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.
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