Brawn confirms F1 retirementposted in F101 | 02 | 2014
ROSS BRAWN, THE most successful team principal in Formula One history, chose the banks of the River Dee in Aberdeenshire to confirm his retirement from the sport.
The 59-year-old made his announcement today during a fishing trip to Scotland. Brawn (pictured) has been strongly linked recently as a replacement for Martin Whitmarsh at McLaren.
Brawn, the mastermind of Michael Schumacher’s titles with Benetton and Ferrari, as well as Jenson Button’s championship triumph with Brawn GP in 2009, left Mercedes at the end of last season for a sabbatical to spend more time fishing.
Having been involved in motorsport since the Seventies, when he joined Williams as a mechanic, Brawn has won 16 F1 titles, eight drivers’ and eight constructors.
But at the end of a week which has seen the first four-day pre-season test at Jerez in Spain, and 48 hours after he was inducted into the Motor Sport Hall of Fame, Brawn made it clear he wouldn't be returning to F1.
"What they didn't realise 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," Brawn said.
"This is the busiest time of the year for Formula 1, and I said I would come along and open the River Dee. If they had put two and two together they would have realised I was definitely retiring.
Related: Eric Boullier confirmed at McLaren
"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.”
Brawn, of course, has a history of returning to the sport. When he left Ferrari at the end of 2006, he took a 12-month sabbatical before returning with Honda in 2008. The following year he won the drivers' and constructors' world championships with Brawn GP and Button.
Brawn GP, then owned by Brawn, morphed into Mercedes GP and the Englishman stayed on at the Brackley-based outfit as team chief until last season.
But following the implementation of a new management structure, headed by Toto Wolff and Paddy Lowe, Brawn left at the end of 2013.
Recently though, following the return of Ron Dennis to the helm at McLaren Group, Brawn has been strongly linked again to a return to the sport.
While former Lotus team principal Eric Boullier was appointed as the McLaren's new racing director, Dennis announced he had created the role of CEO of McLaren Racing. It was this role Brawn had been widely tipped to take.
Tomorrow though, while F1 teams continue their preparations for the next official pre-season test later this month in Bahrain, Brawn will be enjoying the other sport he loves: fishing on the River Dee.
Related: Red Bull halts Jerez F1 test early again
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Jim McGill