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Merc confirms Brawn out for '14

The Mercedes F1 team has confirmed that Ross Brawn will step down as team principal on New Year's Eve.

He will hand over team leadership to executive directors Toto Wolff and Paddy Lowe who, respectively, will handle business and technical matters.

Brawn said: “The most important consideration in my decision to step down was to ensure that the timing was right to ensure the team's future success. The succession planning process implemented during 2013 means we are now ready to conduct the transition to Toto and Paddy."

MEMORABLE MOMENTS

He believed the team was uniquely positioned to succeed in 2014 and added: "I am proud to have helped lay the foundations for that success. 2014 will mark the beginning of a new era in the sport; a new era of team management to ensure that the organisation is in the strongest possible competitive position."

The team had also delivered some of the his most memorable moments during his six seasons with it.

"Second in this season’s Constructors’ championship was an important milestone on the road to championship success," he said. "I'm confident that the future will hold just as much success for the team and I will take real pride in having played my part in those achievements.”

The team was way back in fifth in 2012.

Team chairman and former F1 driver Niki Lauda said: "We've had long discussions with Ross about how he could continue with the team but it you cannot hold somebody back when they have chosen to move on. Ross has decided that this is the right time to hand over the reins to Toto and Paddy and we respect his decision."

Mercedes team chairman Niki Lauda reportedly tried to keep Brawn on board in a new role but German newspaper Bild said Brawn announced his decision to staff on November 27 2013.

GONE FISHIN'

Dieter Zetsche, chairman of the Daimler AG management board and head of Mercedes-Benz Cars, concluded: "I thank Ross for the calm authority with which he has led our works team since 2010, for his crucial contribution to our team's development and for the undoubted share he will have in our future success.

"It has been a pleasure working with him over the past four years and I extend my very best wishes to him for the future."

The Bild report also said Brawn would take some months off to indulge his passion for fishing but that there was "a very good chance" he would return to F1 with McLaren's 2015 engine supplier, Honda.
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