Brawn will be number one at Mercedes, if he stays

Ross Brawn has been promised that he will hold the number one position at Mercedes AMG if he stays with the Formula One team next season.

The Mercedes AMG team principal has been the subject of much speculation throughout the entire 2013 Formula One World Championship.

He has been linked with a switch to McLaren and to Honda ahead of their return to the sport in 2015 and there has also been talk of Brawn buying Toto Wolff’s share in the Williams Formula One team.

Whilst all of the above rumours have been denied it is thought a number of Formula One teams would show an interest if it were clear the 58-year-old was set to become available.

Brawn has been holding talks with Mercedes for several weeks, but it has become clear that the new management model being adopted by the German manufacturer is a clear stumbling block and Brawn made his feelings public at the Japanese Grand Prix.

‘I think we need a very clear definition of who is in charge and obviously I need the motivation to carry on,’ Brawn told Sky Sports.

‘I think the situation we have now is very different is probably a bit different to 12 months ago when some of these decisions were made so to some degree it is just unravelling what’s gone on and finding a satisfactory solution.’

At the start of the season it was thought that Mercedes non-executive chairman Niki Lauda and Mercedes sports boss Toto Wolff had intended to remove Brawn from his role following the addition of Paddy Lowe in January.

Lowe only began his new role as executive director (technical) in June after leaving McLaren as technical director.

The eventual plan appeared to be that Lowe would run the sporting and technical side of the Mercedes AMG team alongside Aldo Costa, Bob Bell and Geoff Willis as senior technical staff. Toto Wolff would then run the business and political side of the team, but Lauda now insists that Brawn will remain the teams leader and it’s solely down to Brawn as to whether he stays with Mercedes or leaves the team.

‘It’s down to him now, I’d say it’s 50-50, We have had some small problems in the team in the past but everything is sorted now.’ Lauda told British newspaper the Mirror.

‘It’s all agreed between him and Paddy and everyone else. He’s No.1. I have tried to persuade him to stay. I want him to stay. We will talk again at the end of the season.’