Ross Brawn believes now is the best time for him to relinquish his team principal role at Mercedes because of the considerable regulation changes for 2014.
The 59-year-old will leave the team on December 31st having spent four years at the helm after the German marque bought out the Brawn GP team in late-2009.
Mercedes attempted to keep Brawn for 2014, but the Briton says the significant changes next season make it the perfect time to hand control over to Toto Wolff and Paddy Lowe.
“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,” said Brawn in a statement.
“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.
“Mercedes-Benz has invested significantly in both the personnel and infrastructure at Brackley and Brixworth.
“Thanks to the one-team approach we have implemented between the two facilities, the team is uniquely positioned to succeed in 2014 and I am proud to have helped lay the foundations for that success.
“However, 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.”
Mercedes’ non-executive chairman Niki Lauda admits he would like to have retained Brawn’s services, but ultimately accepted his decision to leave.
“We have had long discussions with Ross about how he could continue with the team but it is a basic fact that you cannot hold somebody back when they have chosen to move on,” he said.
“Ross has decided that this is the right time to hand over the reins to Toto and Paddy and we respect his decision.
“Toto and Paddy are the right people to lead our team in 2014 and beyond.”
Discussion about this post