Chase Carey, Chairman and CEO of Formula 1, has announced the appointments in newly created roles of Ross Brawn as Managing Director, Motor Sports, and Sean Bratches as Managing Director, Commercial Operations.

The appointments are effective immediately in conjunction with the completion of Liberty Media's acquisition of Formula 1 announced earlier today.

Brawn is one of the most successful and innovative Technical Directors in the sport's history, having enjoyed a 40 year engineering and management career in motor racing, he has won 22 World Championships and the Le Mans 24 Hours.

His honours include 11 world titles with Ferrari and seven as part of Williams and Benetton. He subsequently went on to win the 2009 F1 World Drivers and Constructors' Championships with his own team, which he subsequently sold to Mercedes, laying the foundation that enabled the German manufacturer to win the 2014, 2015 and 2016 World Titles.

Sean Bratches is credited as one of ESPN's most influential leaders, with over 27 years of experience, most recently as Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing.

His career has been defined by innovation and vision, and his contributions helped to fuel tremendous growth in ESPN's brand and revenue. Sean oversaw ESPN's two primary revenue streams, advertising and sponsor sales and content licensing, as well as the research and analytics, marketing, consumer products and events marketing divisions.

He led a sales and marketing team that provided national advertisers access to ESPN's premier media and marketing platforms and oversaw all content licensing for the domestic cable and satellite networks of The Walt Disney Company to its linear and emerging multi-channel affiliates. These assets included: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic, ESPNEWS, ESPN Deportes, ESPNU, ESPN SEC Network, The Longhorn Network and ESPN3. He also was responsible for the distribution of related HDTV, broadband, video-on-demand, subscription video-on-demand, interactive television, pay-per-view, Spanish-language, and sports syndication products.

"I am delighted to welcome Ross back to Formula 1," said Carey. "In his 40 years in the sport, he's brought his magic touch to every team with which he has worked, has almost unparalleled technical knowledge, experience and relationships, and I have already benefitted greatly from his advice and expertise.

"I am also thrilled Sean is joining Formula 1. Sean was a driving force in building ESPN into one of the world's leading sports franchises. His expertise and experience in sales, marketing, digital media, and distribution will be invaluable as we grow Formula 1.

"I look forward to working with Ross and Sean, as well as key current executives including Duncan Llowarch, our CFO, and Sacha Woodward Hill, our General Counsel, the FIA, Bernie and Liberty as we work together to make Formula 1 the best it can be for the teams, promoters and fans for years to come."

"It's fantastic to be returning to the world of Formula 1," said Brawn. "I've enjoyed consulting with Liberty Media these last few months and I'm looking forward to working with Chase, Sean and the rest of the Formula 1 Team to help the evolution of the sport. We have an almost unprecedented opportunity to work together with the teams and promoters for a better F1 for them and, most importantly, for the fans."

"I'm very excited to be joining Formula 1 and contribute to the continued growth of this extraordinary global brand and sport," added Bratches. "Formula 1 is one of few truly global tier one sports, and I am encouraged by the manifold opportunities to materially grow the business, work closely with current and future sponsors, race circuits, television rights holders as well as create next generation digital and on-site race experiences to best serve the Formula 1 fans."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Mbarnez, 24/01/2017 10:39

"Can we have V10s back please Mr Brawn?"

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2. Posted by Motorsport-fan, 24/01/2017 9:38

"Fresh starts all round, Brexit - Trump - F1?"

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3. Posted by Rappy, 23/01/2017 23:47

"Let's hope Liberty and Brawn will change the culture away from strangulation of the circuits and sell off to subscriber-only media. Maybe now would be a good time to have online streaming as well. By 'now' I mean six years ago already. See ya Bernie. As the other gentlemen said below, you should stepped away several years ago with dignity."

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4. Posted by Hardliner, 23/01/2017 22:57

"No time wasted there, then, pretty impressive if very obvious moves from Liberty. Brawn would never have come back as long as Albert Steptoe was hanging around. So we know Liberty is good at the corporate stuff. Can they cut the mustard in rejuvenating with the sport, though? Brawn is an excellent choice, but the FIA is still sclerotic and leaderless [although Brawn and Todt go some way back and were successful together, so maybe it'll work that way round instead]. A good start would be to ensure Manor is saved, also Sauber, and the European Grand Prix's. In the end, corporate maneuvers aside, its about car racing, I sure hope the new beasts are better than last year's, although no doubt Liberty/Brawn will tell us to wait a year. Another year... Thank you, Bernie, you were great for F1 for a while, but you should have learnt when your time was up [about 7 years ago]. Don't suppose you fancy supporting a couple of struggling teams by any chance do you, putting some of that lovely dosh back in before your ridiculous family blow it all on shoes, children's parties, and security guards?"

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Brawn appointed to senior role by Liberty

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