Brawn opens door to role guiding F1's future

Ross Brawn says he would like to be involved in shaping F1's future and would not return to work for a team in the sport.

Since leaving Mercedes at the end of the 2013 campaign, Brawn has been enjoying his time away from F1 but remained a highly-respected and coveted figure.

Indeed, it has been reported in recent months that Ferrari tried to lure him back to Maranello, where he had overseen five Drivers’ titles and six Constructors’ championships during the Michael Schumacher era.

With F1 still looking for a way out of its current identity crisis amid dwindling TV viewing figures, disgruntled fans, and driver’s complaints about the sport's "obsolete" governance and rule-making process, Brawn’s name has often been linked with a top position to help shape and improve the series' future.

For instance, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner called for Brawn to replace the Strategy Group last year.

“That was nice to hear from Christian,” Brawn told The Telegraph ahead of this weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix. “That’s how I like to be involved in the sport. I would never go back to a team. I did everything I can in a team, but I would be repeating myself.

“For sure, trying to help F1 become a better F1 would be appealing. It would be the one thing that could be interesting. If you ask me what F1 needs, it needs a plan; a three-year and a five-year plan. My view is we haven’t got the ideal structure for creating that plan and implementing it over time.”

With new F1 owners Liberty Media currently assessing their latest purchase and looking for ways to develop grand prix racing, Brawn, who did not confirm nor deny whether he has been in touch with the John Malone-led conglomerate, is confident he would be able to work with Bernie Ecclestone, which has been kept as CEO.

“I think [Liberty] are finding their feet,” added the former Ferrari technical director. “They’re being very wise and taking their time. They’ve also got to build their relationship with Bernie, because he’s not used to having an owner involved in that way.

"I have no issues with Bernie. What we have today is primarily down to Bernie's creation. I just got frustrated because my approach is methodical and structured and Bernie's is chaotic and impulsive.

"If those two things ever came together it would be an interesting combination. Sometimes I find those idiosyncrasies, those approaches, amusing. I get round them in that way. I just keep battering at the door until it opens."

Brawn’s storied F1 career also includes successful spells at Benetton in the mid 1990s, already with Schumacher, as well as with his own Brawn GP outfit and Jenson Button in 2009 before he sold it to Mercedes.

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