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Ferrari open to Ross Brawn return and confirm talks


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#1 Cyanide

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Posted 01 September 2014 - 21:04

(CNN) -- Ferrari would welcome back Ross Brawn to help turn around the famous Formula One team's flagging fortunes. As Ferrari's former technical director, Brawn helped guide the Scuderia to six constructors' titles as well as five world titles between 2000 and 2004 with Michael Schumacher.
 
Ferrari's new team principal Marco Mattiacci revealed to CNN he would be happy to work with the English technical guru.
 
"Ross Brawn is an iconic figure at [Ferrari headquarters] Maranello," Mattiacci told CNN. "Everyone would like to have Ross or would like to see Ross back at Ferrari."
 
Ferrari would love to emulate Mercedes' sensational return to form, perhaps with Brawn's help.
 
"We've talked several times," said the Ferrari team principal, who took over the role following Stefano Domenicali's resignation in April. "Ross has been at Ferrari. He came here with friends so it was very nice to spend a few minutes [together]."
 
When asked if he was confident he might be able to tempt Brawn to also return to Ferrari, Mattiacci responded: "As I said, at the moment I'm building a new team.
 
"James is the technical director and I want to start from this point. To tango you have to have two," the classical music fan told CNN. "Maybe Ross is happy with what he is doing."
 
Brawn, who turned to his hobby of fly-fishing after leaving Ferrari in 2006, might not be fishing for a return to F1 or Ferrari yet. But if Mattiacci could persuade him to join the Italian marque he would have landed one of the sport's biggest catches.

 

 

 

Full article + video interview here: http://edition.cnn.c...rt (RSS: Sport)

 

Thought this deserved its own thread so it won't fill up the 2015 SIlly Season and Ferrari threads. Plus now we have some confirmation they want him and have held talks. 

 

What do we make of this? 


Edited by Cyanide, 01 September 2014 - 21:15.


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#2 bourbon

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Posted 01 September 2014 - 21:13

This could be great.  It doesn't sound like they have defined a role for him to come back to though...



#3 Cyanide

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Posted 01 September 2014 - 21:18

This could be great.  It doesn't sound like they have defined a role for him to come back to though...

 

Well he wouldn't take Mattiacci's place because he said he's still at the top spot currently. 

 

I'm guessing some technical advisory role alongside James Allison or simply an administrational advisor alongside Mattiacci. 

 

This guy looks pretty serious in changing the team though. 



#4 redreni

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Posted 01 September 2014 - 21:19

This could be great.  It doesn't sound like they have defined a role for him to come back to though...

 

If they could get him to come back, he'd be allowed to define his own role, I suspect. I've seen no indication that he's got the slightest wish to do so, though.



#5 Cyanide

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Posted 01 September 2014 - 21:20

If they could get him to come back, he'd be allowed to define his own role, I suspect. I've seen no indication that he's got the slightest wish to do so, though.

 

Well he hasn't exactly been seen or interviewed anywhere. He keeps a pretty low profile these days. 



#6 AlexS

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Posted 01 September 2014 - 21:29

Horrible misstated title. Typical current journalism adding the summer nauseating recycling

 

 

There are no talks. Brawn was at Ferrari months ago with friends. It only accepted an advisory role.  There is nothing new from this so called "news".



#7 redreni

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Posted 01 September 2014 - 21:34

Well he hasn't exactly been seen or interviewed anywhere. He keeps a pretty low profile these days. 

 

Right, he's said nothing, so the reporter hasn't got much of a story, has he?



#8 george1981

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Posted 01 September 2014 - 21:35

I might be over simplifying but, but one of the reasons why Brawn left Ferrari in the first place was because he wasn't offered the role of team principal. Instead a year after Brawn left Domenical was made team principal. Arguably this was the wrong move and Ferrari should have done whatever was needed to make Brawn team principal.

Fast forward a few years, Ross Brawn has won a WDC and WCC in a car carrying his own name. He's been instrumental in the improvements at Mercedes so that they are now dominating F1.

Would Brawn go to Ferrari and be anything less than the team principal? I think he has nothing left to prove.



#9 quasi C

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Posted 01 September 2014 - 21:38

There was talk of an advisory role only, I'm sceptical as this hasn't really worked recently [Schumacher and Byrne]. I doubt anything will happen. As for speaking to someone, well they spoke to Newey too and we know how that ended.



#10 Logiso

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Posted 01 September 2014 - 21:40

I don't think Brawn would fit into Ferrari with Mattiacci there. If Ferrari want/need Brawn, they want his full focus. Any other role than what he has would be a step down from what he had at Merc/Brawn/Honda. Only way I could see it would be a McLaren sort of situation where Mattiacci takes a step back into a Ron Dennis type role, and Brawn basically runs the team. And to be honest I'm not sure why Ross would want to take it on, he has his history with Ferrari now and he can't make it any better than it was the first time.



#11 Cyanide

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Posted 01 September 2014 - 21:47

There are no talks. Brawn was at Ferrari months ago with friends. It only accepted an advisory role.  There is nothing new from this so called "news".

 

Right, he's said nothing, so the reporter hasn't got much of a story, has he?

 

Just because there hasn't been anything reported doesn't mean there haven't been talks going on in the background. 

 

Mattiacci admitted they're open for his return, which is a drastic change in tone from what Montezemolo said about outside mercenaries coming in a while ago. 

 

Seems more like a public invitation for negotiations and CNN has enough widespread coverage for it to go noticed. Maybe Brawn has no internet or cell phone near the lake he's fishing in.  :D



#12 George Costanza

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Posted 01 September 2014 - 21:55

Ferrari would be in a much better place had Ross been there all along.

 

It might be a bit too late for Fernando or Kimi, however.



#13 Cyanide

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Posted 01 September 2014 - 21:58

There are no talks. 

 

If you watch the video, the interviewer asks: "Are you in talks with Ross at the moment?" and Mattiacci says "Yes, we talked several times".


Edited by Cyanide, 01 September 2014 - 21:58.


#14 warp

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Posted 01 September 2014 - 22:20

Mattiacci arguably will still be the top dog. He said so.

 

Another crazy possibility is that finally Luca is stepping down from being the president of Ferrari with Mattiacci taking over and Ross running the F1 team.

Crazy? Yes.

Impossible? No.

 

There have been rumors of Luca stepping down in favor of going to Alitalia, pursuing his political career and such.

Maybe Fiat board also wants him out or simply new blood.

 

That would open the door for Ross' comeback. A new Ferrari with Mattiacci at top with him to run the F1 team until he feels like it.



#15 Lamag

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Posted 01 September 2014 - 23:04

In order to know if Ross Brawn will end up in Ferrari in the near future we need to understand the reasons behind his departure from Mercedes. Ross left Mercedes because he lost almost all the power within the team. There is no way to see Ross Brawn coming back to Ferrari if he is not going to have the full power within the team, which seems unlikely to happen with Montezemolo taking the big decisions since the departure of Jean Todt.


#16 Knot

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Posted 02 September 2014 - 00:02

Brawn will not return to Ferrari unless he's 100% in charge. This is why he left MB.



#17 Knot

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Posted 02 September 2014 - 00:04


Ross left Mercedes because he lost almost all the power within the team.

 

 

Ross left Mercedes because he lost almost all the power within the team.

 

 

Wrong. He left because MB wanted him to share power.

 



#18 loki

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Posted 02 September 2014 - 00:16

I didn't realize they had a need for a fisherman in Maranello...



#19 shonguiz

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Posted 02 September 2014 - 01:58

Ffs people the guy left Ferrari and Mercedes because he wasn't offered the top place in the red house and didn't manage to hold it in the grey one. Do you seriously think the guy is interested in taking an advisor role ? Even Ferrari must know now that its only a loss of money and time giving Byrne's success as an advisor.

Edited by shonguiz, 02 September 2014 - 01:59.


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#20 CoolBreeze

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Posted 02 September 2014 - 03:14

The story of Ross's comeback have been circulating since he left Ferrari on day one. 



#21 George Costanza

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Posted 02 September 2014 - 03:15

The story of Ross's comeback have been circulating since he left Ferrari on day one. 

 

Yeah.

I don't think Ross is ever going back to F1. 



#22 MaxisOne

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Posted 02 September 2014 - 03:37

Never say never .. But my impression is that this that Ross is a guy that while very likeable and respected is a very no nonsense full control authoritarian.  And for him it appears to be an all or nothing proposition for him to come back to any team. 

 

I dont see him working for any team unless they give him carte blance for what he wants to do. 



#23 blub

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Posted 02 September 2014 - 03:45

Lamag, your on to it, I see it slightly differently but I know your point is a good starting point to understand this Brawn thing.

What did Ross Brawn say while at Mercedes almost exactly a year ago, there must be one standard, one measure and I am that measure. He was talking of the technical side of things, as in there can not be three ideas of how to progress in the aero and we do that, there needs to be one voice one final opinion. The truth is grown men who have worked in F1 for decades don’t want to have anyone telling them how its going to be, I am talking about Aldo Costa and others at Mercedes. These men have earned the right to do it their way. But the Ross Brawn method works, its proven, and it doesn’t include allowing highly experienced men to make the final decision, thats what Ross does. Of course department heads in the team want freedom to do their own thing in their own way, a Ross Brawn at the top of the team shuts that down. I fully sympathies with the folks that work so long and hard yet never have full freedom, but, its Ross Brawn, go to another team if you want more freedom Brawn is epic because he has a method that works, you are not epic.

Ross Brawn is an engineering centric guy, not an office politics guy, after all, its great engineering that wins races and the WCC, not office politics. Brawn is focused and has been there at the tip top as a direct result of his own hard work and intellectual contribution. In this instance Ross Brawn had to create a ship which he was eventually going to be kicked off of. A team filled to the gills with talent and experience, all of them wanting the next step in their carriers, and the final word on their duties, mutiny was sown into the fabric of such a team. Now he knows that this ship is flawed and there is a better way with younger talent, maybe he would take another bite of the apple just to test a new theory, I think its possible, but where could this be?



#24 Lamag

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Posted 02 September 2014 - 10:17

 

Ross left Mercedes because he lost almost all the power within the team.

 

 

Wrong. He left because MB wanted him to share power.

 

 

 

 

No, you are the one wrong. Ross was about to lost the power as technical director and even on the commercial side. Wolff was ready to take over the commercial side and Paddy over the technical side.
 
Ross made it clear when he basically said that the team need to follow his lead or he would leave. Is so simply, Toto Wolff, Niki Lauda and Paddy Lowe took all the power away from him.


#25 Gilles4Ever

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Posted 02 September 2014 - 10:45

Ross Brawn not part of Ferrari's Formula 1 plans

 

http://www.autosport...t.php/id/115661



#26 Owen

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Posted 02 September 2014 - 11:29

Alonso stays in, Brawn stays out. This new Ferrari looks a lot like the old team!



#27 johnmhinds

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Posted 02 September 2014 - 12:18

Ferrari would be in trouble if the only future they could envision would be to go back to how things were 10 years ago and just rehire all those same people for a few years.

 

I hope they're thinking more long term than that.



#28 Andy35

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Posted 02 September 2014 - 12:24

Ferrari would be in trouble if the only future they could envision would be to go back to how things were 10 years ago and just rehire all those same people for a few years.

 

I hope they're thinking more long term than that.

 

So in effect you are saying Ferrari will not be competitive for a few years until it gels? 

 

Ferrari at the moment remind me of Manchester Utd, another team in red.  Would Man Utd roll back 10 years to get Fergie back in charge? Maybe, maybe not.



#29 Jon83

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Posted 02 September 2014 - 12:34

No surprise that a story like this appears on the week of the Italian GP.