Brawn Hints at Mercedes Deal; Or Does He?

Two different interviews with Ross Brawn reach two different conclusions. I guess it will be up to you to decide which is closer to the truth.

First, the official Formula One site has a Q and A up with Ross Brawn that features this exchange:

Q: How will the Brawn GP team look next year? Will it be Brawn-Mercedes?
RB: I could not possibly comment on that.

OK. But then the Telegraph goes into this:

Brawn also hinted that a link-up with engine manufacturers Mercedes-Benz was not far away from being finalised.

The German car giants have been linked with taking a 75 percent stake in the Brackley-based team which could provide the financial backing required to again see off Ferrari and McLaren.

“Mercedes is a very important part of our team and without the engine we would not have won the championship,” said Brawn.

“It was the best engine in Formula One and we have formed a great partnership together.

“We are looking at all opportunities for the future but it is too early to announce anything yet.

This could be a matter of situation—with F1 [or whatever official arm of Brawn GP did the Q and A] Brawn has to be very matter-of-fact and straight to the point. The Telegraph might be a bit looser and the reporter likely tried to draw the confirmation out of Brawn.

There also is the room for interpretation we get from the Telegraph; we don’t just have the question and answer exchange.

The Q and A also allows Ross to go easy on new FIA president Jean Todt:

Q: The FIA has a new President in Jean Todt. You know him very well from your days together at Ferrari, what are you expectations?

RB: Jean takes a very strong team approach to whatever he does and he is the glue that holds the whole thing together. He does recognize in other people their talent, and he uses that talent to achieve the best results.

What we are going to see with Jean is that he will probably not be very high profile as a person, but will be the conductor of an orchestra that will contain many people, and help it to move forward. Formula One has been through a fractious period over the last year or two and there was reason for that.

The Formula One community is now looking forward to some stability and a quieter time. I have a lot of respect for him.

He will do a great job. Max Mosley did a very good job but became controversial over the last two years. Jean will do the job perhaps in a less controversial way.

I’m sitting here trying to imagine what Todt would have to do to be as controversial as Max.

Finally, with the Telegraph Brawn essentially confirms what we all know: Virgin is moving on and won’t be back with Brawn. [Expect to hear officially about Virgin Manor any day.]