Ross Brawn (born 23 November 1954) is an
English motorsport
engineer and
Formula
One team principal. He has worked for a number of
Formula One teams, serving as the technical
director of the championship-winning
Benetton and
Ferrari teams. He took a sabbatical from
the sport in 2007 but returned to F1 for the
2008 season as Team Principal of
Honda.
He was the owner of
the Brawn
GP
team, which acquired the Honda team in early 2009,
and won the Formula One Constructors and Drivers Championships in
that year. Mercedes
bought out the team in November 2009, where Brawn will remain team
principal.
Early life and family
Brawn was
born in Manchester
, England
and attended
Reading
School
in Reading, Berkshire
. In the early 1970s he was taken on as a
trainee engineer by the United Kingdom Atomic
Energy Authority at its Atomic Energy
Research Establishment
in Harwell, Oxfordshire
, where he studied instrumentation.
Brawn
lives in Stoke
Row
, near Henley-on-Thames
. In his spare time he enjoys
gardening,
fishing and
listening to
music.
In 2006 Brawn received
an honorary degree of Doctor of Engineering from Brunel
University
for his services to motorsport.
Career
His career
in motorsport began in 1976 when he joined March Engineering in the town of Bicester
as a milling machine
operator. Soon afterwards he joined their
Formula 3 racing team as a
mechanic. Brawn was hired by Sir
Frank Williams in 1978 as a
machinist for the newly formed
Williams team. He quickly moved up through the
ranks, working in the
R&D department and
as an
aerodynamicist in the team's
wind tunnel.
After brief stints with the now-defunct
Haas
Lola and
Arrows F1 teams Brawn's efforts
caught the attention of
Jaguar, which
hired him in 1989. He began work in their
sports car racing division, bringing as
much F1 technological experience as he could, and succeeded in
designing the
Jaguar XJR-14 cars which
won the
1991
World Sportscar Championship.
Benetton
Later in 1991 Brawn returned to F1 as technical director of the
Benetton team, helping it win
back-to-back
World Drivers'
Championships in 1994 and 1995 with
Michael Schumacher, and to take the
World
Constructors' Championship in 1995. Brawn was credited by much
of the specialist press with being an important part of these
championships, particularly in terms of devising race
strategy.
Ferrari
Ross Brawn followed Schumacher to the
Ferrari F1 team in late , at the end of
Schumacher's first year with the team. Again he was renowned for
his race strategies as the team began to challenge for the
championship from 1997, despite the superiority of the Williams
cars that year and the McLarens from 1998 onwards. After these
"rebuilding" years, he (as Ferrari technical director) helped
Ferrari regain glory when the team won the Constructors'
Championship in , the first of six consecutive titles. The
Brawn-guided Scuderia also powered Schumacher to five consecutive
drivers' titles, from to . Brawn's contributions to this
unprecedented string of titles has led many to label him as a vital
member of the Ferrari "dream team" along with Schumacher, team
principal
Jean Todt and chief designer
Rory Byrne.
In Ferrari never quite
found form, and had to relinquish the title to Renault
, and Schumacher passed the crown to Fernando Alonso. In Ferrari had a
poor start to the season, but clearly had the fastest car by the
end of that season.
On 26 October 2006 Ferrari announced that Brawn was to leave the
team. It was believed that he would take a one year
sabbatical, to allow other members of the Ferrari
technical departments to advance within the team.
Honda
Towards the end of 2007 it was reported that Brawn was to join the
big-spending Red Bull outfit as part of a package intended to
attract two times world champion Fernando Alonso, but it was
announced on 12 November 2007 that Brawn was to become the new team
principal of Honda F1 .. He started working with the British-based
team on 26 November 2007.
With the withdrawal of Honda from Formula One announced in late
2008 Brawn was effectively out of the sport unless a buyer could
quickly be found. This was unfortunate for Brawn as he believed
that the team had a "race-winning car" for 2009.
Brawn GP
On 5 March 2009 Brawn completed a 100% buy-out of Honda F1 and announced entry to the 2009 F1 World Championship under the new name Brawn GP.
Many aspects of Honda F1 were retained under the new ownership,
including the experienced driver line-up of
Rubens Barrichello and
Jenson Button. Brawn GP chose to source their
engines for the 2009 season from
Mercedes-Benz. In the
first Grand Prix of 2009 in Australia, Button qualified in pole
position with Barrichello in 2nd place, they went on to finish in
those positions. As of October 19, 2009, there have been 16 Grand
Prix races and Jenson Button has won 6 of them and Rubens
Barrichello has won 2, while the team has finished in both 1st and
2nd places in 4 races and have had 10 podiums.
The Brawn team was given a financial boost on the eve of the
Australian GP when
Virgin boss
Sir Richard Branson announced he was
going to become a team sponsor.
The team now have a second sponsor on board,
The Swiss
brokers
MIG Investments. Brawn GP won
the 2009 Formula One World Constructors' Championship and one of
its drivers, Jenson Button, won the World Drivers' Championship at
the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Mercedes
Brawn GP was bought out by
Mercedes-Benz in November 2009 in a deal
reported to be worth £110m. Ross, as majority shareholder, stands
to do very well financially from the deal and will remain as team
principal of the team. He and Nick Fry will keep a 24.9% share in
the new team.
Speeding offence
Brawn escaped a driving ban after he admitted speeding at over
100mph on a dual carriageway. He was speeding in his Mercedes E320
on the 70mph limit A30 at Sourton near Okehampton, Devon on May 30
2009.Brawn paid a fine of £700, costs of £75, and had his licence
endorsed with six points.Following an offence in February 2009,
Brawn already had three points. A further speeding offence could
result in a ban lasting six months.
References
-
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/motorsport/formulaone/brawngp/6584910/Mercedes-rule-out-increasing-offer-to-Jenson-Button-after-Brawn-GP-buy-out.html
-
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8362295.stm
External links
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Search