"I'm retiring--it's not tongue in cheek," Brawn is quoted as saying. "I'm going to take a year to enjoy the fishing and then see what life brings."
This ends a chapter of F1 that started all the way back in 1978 when Brawn first started out in the sport as a machinist for the newly formed Williams team. During that time, teams Brawn has been associated with managed to rack up 16 titles, half of which were Drivers’ Championships.
Brawn’s rise to fame was during his years with Benetton, where he oversaw Michael Schumacher’s first two championship wins in 1994 and 1995. He then followed Schumacher to Ferrari and was instrumental in the German’s five consecutive championship wins from 2000 to 2004.
In 2006, Brawn took some time off from the sport but returned to help run Honda’s effort in 2008. Honda pulled out at the end of the season and subsequently sold the team to Brawn. The following year, the team, rebranded Brawn F1, would take out both the Drivers’ And Constructors’ Championships.
Brawn then sold the team to Mercedes-Benz, which at that point was only operating as an engine supplier. Despite the regrouping of Brawn and Schumacher in the Mercedes camp, the team failed to make any significant progress. Schumacher left at the end of 2012 and Brawn followed a year later.
This time it looks certain that neither will be back in F1 ever again.
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