Ross Brawn is a towering figure in the F1 paddock. He is best known for being the technical director of the famed Ferrari team when Michael Schumacher won 5 world titles in a row in the early 2000s. Before that, he was instrumental in Schumacher winning his first two titles at Benetton. Then he became the founder of the Brawn GP team which in its only year of existence won a world title — both for the drivers and constructors. This team went on to become Mercedes and he even lured Schumacher out of retirement only to retire in 2014 and hand over the reigns of the team to Toto Wolff.
But in 2016 he was back when Liberty Media took over F1. This time as its managing director of motorsports. But now at the age of 67, he is planning to take a back seat from his daily duties at F1.
“I want to cut back considerably, let’s put it that way, I will continue to be available with my expertise, but I will no longer be responsible for an area every day. That means I will take care of my children and grandchildren again, go fishing more and take care of my garden,” he said.
When asked about his career and when he felt the greatest pressure, Brawn marked out what happened with his own team. Brawn GP was a project that spawned out of BAR Honda project when Honda decided to pull out of F1 after the global economic meltdown in 2008. Ross Brawn fundamentally acquired the team to save it, but they didn’t have much money; luckily the car it developed was groundbreaking and didn’t need to be developed too much through the year to win both the constructor’s title and the driver’s title for Jenson Button.
“Definitely when you work for a team or have to lead your own. The task is so incredibly responsible, so incredibly intense. Today, I couldn’t do that anymore. The emotions are so high, whether you win or lose. Today I enjoy helping to generate new fans. For example, we have more female supporters than before,” he said.
