Exclusive Q&A with Mercedes GP Petronas’ Ross Brawn

During our recent visit to Barcelona, Spain we have managed to catch up with the team principal of the Mercedes GP Petronas Formula 1 Team, Ross Brawn. To refresh your memory, Brawn was one of the brains behind Michael Schumacher’s championship victories in Benetton as well as in Ferrari. The Englishman first started his Formula 1 career with Williams in 1978 as a machinist. He then moved up the ladder and landed a role as technical director of Benetton.

The famous race strategist then moved to Ferrari in 1996. After taking on a sabbatical in 2007, Brawn then became Honda’s team principal and served at the Japanese team until the end of 2008 before the team left the sport. To everyone’s surprise, Brawn fully acquired Honda and renamed it as Brawn GP, which went on to win both the championships in 2009 with drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello. He then sold a majority of his stake in the team to Mercedes which resulted in the birth of the Mercedes GP Petronas team.

2010 wasn’t a year that he is particularly proud of despite having top driver Michael Schumacher back in the cockpit. As the team moves into the 2011 World Championship, he shares his thoughts with us.

What are your comments after completing the 2010 season?

Disappointment in some ways. We obviously won the championship in 2009 and that is the standard we set ourselves and I know you can’t win every championship. I have been here long enough to know that is an unrealistic objective but it was disappointing that we didn’t challenge for the championship and of course we didn’t win any races in 2010. So that is our objective, that is our challenge for this year, to try and win some races and hopefully challenge for championships.

Can you comment about this year’s car?

I think the 2010 car was born during 2009 and 2009 was a successful season for us because we had so much happening, we managed to save the company, we had to find a future for the company and strategically I have decided, the best chance of securing the future success of the company is to make sure we won the championship so we put all of our resources to try to win the championship in 2009. And it was a much smaller team that it was previously so I think we felt the effects of that in terms of building a 2010 car.

What is your say about Pirreli tyres?

They are completely different to Bridgestone. They are quite high performance, high degradation which means we are going to have multiple stops for the races and I think the races are going to be a lot more eventful than we have had in the past. But I hope Pirelli have done a good to get us far ahead in such a short time.

What is your opinion on the re-introduction of KERS?

KERS I think is a good thing because it is a relevant technology and Formula 1 has been lacking a little in terms of pushing the technological boundaries so KERS is great, it is very relevant for Daimler so I think it’s a great thing that we are involved in that.

What about the moveable rear wing?

It is really an option that we can introduce or we can tune. It is there to try to improve the possibilities of overtaking and can try to create some performance differential between the lead car and the car behind. We can use it as much and with the FIA we can work at right levels to have it available and what we don’t want is overtaking to become so easy that it is not an event. But it will facilitate overtaking.

What do you think about McLaren’s U-shapped sidepods? It is as significant as the double-deck diffuser used in 2009?

No, I don’t think it is that significant. It is an interesting solution they have chosen. I think they have chosen that because of their exhaust layout so it’s a complete package of the car. It is probably too early to say, we have haven’t looked at their concept at great detail yet but will do so during the year. But it is just part of a package. I don’t think by itself it is so relevant but as part of the package it is quite relevant.

What is your take on team orders?

Generally I don’t like them but what I don’t want to have is a situation where there is ambiguity in what is going on where team orders are hidden behind some sham of secret messages or secret instructors that can bring this world (Formula 1) into disrepute. I think teams should try and avoid to use team orders but I would rather it was done in the open.

You see the problem with team orders is that if you hide them, you could be accused but you wouldn’t be able to prove or disprove otherwise. If you say that one driver has received a coded instruction, then the whole thing gets very messy and I think that is fooling the public more. We still have to make sure that we don’t bring the sport into disrepute, that is the cornerstone of the sport and we have to respect that as well.

Is it correct to say that Schumacher’s lack of performance in 2010 was contributed by the fact that the car wasn’t really developed with him in mind?

We can’t really develop a car specifically for Michael and both drivers give some sort of indication of what kind of car you ought to have. They tell you where you need to improve the car and where you don’t so I think Michael coming back after three years is a massive challenge. I think he did really well and I think he will do better this year so I don’t think there is such a thing that a car that is tuned to the driver but of course both drivers give you guidance through the season as to what sort of car they want.

Do you think if Schumacher, given the right car can become champion once again?

Yes. I think Michael is capable of winning races and I think Nico is capable of winning races and if either of them can put enough wins they can win the championship. Both are very capable of winning races.

Are you confident of winning races this season?

Definitely. You will never know how the competition is like but that is our ambition.

Do you think that the now postponed Bahrain GP can be held later this year?

I think it is very difficult in a 20-race calendar to find a gap because previously we had a few gaps and we could drop a race in but it would be very difficult in 2011 to find another gap. So I think we will lose it for a year.

You can also read our interview with Norbert Haug, vice-president of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport here.

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Harvinder Sidhu

Harvinder Singh Sidhu thinks there's nothing better than Formula 1, not even sliced bread. Having written about cars since 2006, he plunged head first into the industry out of a passion for all things four-wheeled and everything in between. The F1 enthusiast has been following the sport since 1999 and has been keeping up with it since. In between races he keeps himself busy as the host of the Driven motoring show and as our version of the Joker.

 
 

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