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Ross Brawn lined up to succeed Bernie Ecclestone as F1 chief

Ross Brawn is reportedly ready to succeed F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone and has already signed a new contract with Liberty Media and the FIA.

In an interview with the Daily Telegraphy Brawn recently revealed he would be tempted to a move back to F1 but only in a role at the head of the sport and not part of a team.

The celebrated engineer was at the helm at Benetton, Ferrari and his own Brawn GP team - collecting a total of eight F1 world titles - but has been away from the sport since 2013 after splitting with Mercedes due to a managerial dispute with Toto Wolff and Niki Lauda.

Brawn has recently released a new book Total Competition in which he explains the extent of the split between the German manufacturer but had been open to the idea of returning to F1 in a senior role.

It is reported in Auto Bild Brawn has already signed a deal with Liberty Media and the FIA to replace Bernie Ecclestone as F1 chief.

However any start date, deal confirmation or what impact it would have on Ecclestone's current position is yet to be given by the sport.

Upon the completion of Liberty Media's £6bn buyout of Formula 1, Ecclestone confirmed he had been asked to stay on in his current role 'for three years' in September.

Brawn could be seen as a safe pair of hands to takeover from Ecclestone by FIA President Jean Todt having worked with the British engineer at Ferrari between 1997-2006. With F1 searching for technical regulations which would provide a competitive field and resist constant disagreements between teams, Brawn could also be the ideal candidate to set-up a future plan.

"If you ask me what F1 needs, it needs a plan; a three-year and a five-year plan," Brawn told the Daily Telegraph. "My view is we haven't got the ideal structure for creating that plan and implementing it over time." 

Zdroj: crash.net