Following months of speculation, former Ferrari technical director and Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn has officially announced his retirement from F1.
The Englishman confirmed that his time working in the sport has come to an end at a fishing event in Aberdeenshire on Saturday.
The 59-year-old, whose F1 career started with Williams in the 70s as a machinist, confirmed his exit from the Mercedes AMG Petronas team at the end of November after four seasons as team principal.
Before that, he - of course - helped bring the Brackley-based outfit back to life at the beginning of 2009 after Honda pulled out of the sport. Brawn took a 54% controlling stake in the team as part of a 100% buy-out, forming Brawn GP.
The team went on to win both titles before it was bought by Mercedes. Having helped the team move up the grid after a tough first few seasons, he was seemingly edged out at the end of 2013, as they felt the team principal role was outdated. The controls were moved over to executive directors Toto Wolff (business) and Paddy Lowe (technical).
His future in F1 has been a hot topic of discussion ever since. Could he return to Ferrari? What about a role at McLaren or Honda?
Unfortunately, he has now confirmed his exit for good. "What they didn’t realize when I was invited here was they had a scoop because the world’s press was trying to find out if I was retiring or not," he was reported as saying by The Daily Telegraph.
"This is the busiest time of the year for Formula One and I said I would come along and open the River Dee. If they had put two and two together they would have realized I was definitely retiring.
"I’m retiring. It’s not tongue in cheek I’m going to take a year to enjoy the fishing and then see what life brings. I’m looking forward to it but I’ve got no other plans.
"It’s a fantastic honour to do the ceremonial opening of the River Dee. It’s a river I’ve never had a chance to fish before because it is predominantly known as a spring river and in the spring I’m normally trying to sort out a Formula One car in Spain. So February, March and April are never good months for me to go fishing – but this year is different having stopped."
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© Octane Photographic |
The 59-year-old, whose F1 career started with Williams in the 70s as a machinist, confirmed his exit from the Mercedes AMG Petronas team at the end of November after four seasons as team principal.
Before that, he - of course - helped bring the Brackley-based outfit back to life at the beginning of 2009 after Honda pulled out of the sport. Brawn took a 54% controlling stake in the team as part of a 100% buy-out, forming Brawn GP.
The team went on to win both titles before it was bought by Mercedes. Having helped the team move up the grid after a tough first few seasons, he was seemingly edged out at the end of 2013, as they felt the team principal role was outdated. The controls were moved over to executive directors Toto Wolff (business) and Paddy Lowe (technical).
His future in F1 has been a hot topic of discussion ever since. Could he return to Ferrari? What about a role at McLaren or Honda?
Unfortunately, he has now confirmed his exit for good. "What they didn’t realize when I was invited here was they had a scoop because the world’s press was trying to find out if I was retiring or not," he was reported as saying by The Daily Telegraph.
"This is the busiest time of the year for Formula One and I said I would come along and open the River Dee. If they had put two and two together they would have realized I was definitely retiring.
"I’m retiring. It’s not tongue in cheek I’m going to take a year to enjoy the fishing and then see what life brings. I’m looking forward to it but I’ve got no other plans.
"It’s a fantastic honour to do the ceremonial opening of the River Dee. It’s a river I’ve never had a chance to fish before because it is predominantly known as a spring river and in the spring I’m normally trying to sort out a Formula One car in Spain. So February, March and April are never good months for me to go fishing – but this year is different having stopped."
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