Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn to leave side at the end of current F1 season

Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn will reportedly leave the Brackley-based team at the end of the Formula One season after he and the side failed to reach an agreement on a role in which he would have been happy to stay at the team

Mercedes will now be run in tandem by their two executive directors, Toto Wolff and Paddy Lowe, along with non-executive chairman Niki Lauda.

According to the BBC, the impending departure of Brawn, who masterminded Michael Schumacher's seven world titles at Benetton and Ferrari and also headed Jenson Button's title-winning 2009 season, follows months of talks between himself and Mercedes bosses.

The report mentioned that Mercedes was hoping to persuade Brawn to stay on in another role that did not involve the day-to-day running of the team as they believes that a single team principal is an outdated concept, although Brawn decided he had no option but to leave after the negotiations reached an impasse.