Mercedes AMG have officially announced their Team Principal and founder Ross Brawn will depart from the team on December 31 this year.
It was speculated straight after the Silver Arrows poached McLaren technical director Paddy Lowe there was no role for Brawn in the team, in terms of being the leader.
Despite attempts from Mercedes’ non-executive chairman Niki Lauda to hold on to Brawn in a senior adviser-type role, the 59-year-old has opted to quit the team completely.
In a statement released by Mercedes, Brawn said “The most important consideration in my decision to step down from the role as Team Principal was to ensure that the timing was right for the team in order to ensure its future success.”
He also went on to confirm Mercedes, instead of employing the traditional ‘team principal’, will split the technical and managerial roles between Lowe and Toto Wolff.
“The succession planning process that we have implemented during this year means we are now ready to conduct the transition from my current responsibilities to a new leadership team composed of Toto and Paddy.”
Brawn had formed the Mercedes AMG team from his one-off championship winning Brawn GP squad from 2009.
From 2010 to 2011, the seven times world champion Michael Schumacher was behind the wheel of the car before in 2012 Lewis Hamilton was plucked from McLaren to drive for Brawn.
Under the Mercedes name, Brawn has been instrumental in four grand prix victories, three of them in the hands of Nico Rosberg. Hamilton also stormed to victory at this year’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
Since changing over to Mercedes, the team have achieved their championship best result by finishing second in the constructor’s championship this year, crucially beating Ferrari.
“2014 will mark the beginning of a new era in the sport. We therefore felt this was the right time to simultaneously begin a new era of team management to ensure that the organisation is in the strongest possible competitive position for the years to come,” Brawn went on to add.
It is currently unknown what his plans are for the future in terms of Formula One, with there already being links made to a role in the FIA (F1’s governing body) or with engine developer Honda, who will make a return to the sport in 2015.
For now it is said the Briton will enjoy a few months away from the sport with a spot of fishing.
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