Mercedes Non-Exec Chair Niki Lauda "is attempting to head off an internal power struggle to persuade Ross Brawn, one of the most successful team principals in Formula One history, to stay with the Mercedes team," according to Kevin Eason of the LONDON TIMES.
Lauda "dismissed speculation that Brawn was leaving at the end of the season as 'bulls***' and insisted negotiations were continuing to find a way to keep the Manchester-born Brawn in position."
That "will mean heading off the ambitions of Toto Wolff, who joined Mercedes as a shareholder to run the commercial and political aspects of the team." Wolff "brought with him Paddy Lowe from McLaren as prospective technical director without consulting Brawn, a man who has taken three F1 teams, including his own, to World Championship titles." Wolff "appears to have decided he wants to run Mercedes with Lowe as his second-in-command, but that has caused a tense stand-off with Brawn, who is demanding that he remains the kingpin in a team he has spent almost five years building." Lauda is clear that he "wants Brawn to stay and is prepared to use all of his powers of persuasion to keep the most successful team principal of the past 20 years on board." Lauda: "The speculation is total rubbish. The situation is absolutely clear: I spoke to Ross a while ago and we agreed that he will come back to me after the final race of the season in Brazil to tell me whether he wants to stay or go. I am trying everything I can to encourage and motivate him to stay. I am the one who asked him to stay" (LONDON TIMES, 10/30). In London, Jonathan McEvoy reported F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone, "the sport’s defining figure, who is thought not to be on the best terms with Brawn," said, perhaps tellingly, "I think they have decided that Ross is going, and that seems to be the end of it." Lauda added, "If he stays he will be team principal -- nothing else -- or he will retire. With a new car and new engine, all the changes next year, I hope he will not leave" (DAILY MAIL, 10/30).
