01/02/2014
NEWS STORY
Attending a fishing event in Scotland, Ross Brawn is understood to have told reporters that he has retired from F1, thereby ending speculation linking him with McLaren.
According to the Daily Telegraph, he told reporters at the event on the River Dee in Aberdeenshire, that he would not be returning to the sport after leaving Mercedes at the end of 2013.
"What they didn't realise when I was invited here was they had a scoop because the world's press was trying to find out if I was retiring or not," he is quoted as saying. "This is the busiest time of the year for Formula One and I said I would come along and open the River Dee. If they had put two and two together they would have realised I was definitely retiring.
"I'm retiring, it's not tongue in cheek," he continued. "I'm going to take a year to enjoy the fishing and then see what life brings. I'm looking forward to it but I've got no other plans.
"It's a fantastic honour to do the ceremonial opening of the River Dee. It's a river I've never had a chance to fish before because it is predominantly known as a spring river and in the spring I'm normally trying to sort out a Formula One car in Spain. So February, March and April are never good months for me to go fishing - but this year is different having stopped.”
Brawn, who won titles with Benetton and Ferrari with Michael
Schumacher, and another with one of his own cars driven by Jenson Button, left Mercedes at the end of last year, the Englishman linked with roles at McLaren and the FIA.
Earlier this week, when it was announced that Eric Boullier had joined McLaren as Race Director, it still left the door open for a senior role with the Woking team.
Ron Dennis, who is now back at the helm at the MTC, has made no secret of his admiration of Brawn, admitting that the two had talks in December.
If even ten-percent of the rumours are true his is an autobiography that would make very interesting reading.
Chris Balfe