It's official: Team Principal Ross Brawn to leave Mercedes at the end of the year

Team Principal Ross Brawn is to leave Mercedes, the team have confirmed.

Wolff joined Mercedes from Williams earlier this year, while Paddy Lowe began work with the team in mid-summer after quitting his role as McLaren Technical Director. While the exact nature of their partnership will only become clear in the months ahead, the apparent appointment of Wolff and Lowe as 'joint managers' is a dramatic deviation from F1's convention of placing the overall responsibility of the day-to-day running of a team in the hands of a nominated Team Principal. "Toto and Paddy are the right people to lead our team in 2014 and beyond," insisted Niki Lauda, Mercedes' non-executive chairman. Nevertheless, Lauda is believed to have fought hard to keep Brawn at Mercedes and his regret at the team's failure to persuade the 59-year-old to stay on was apparent as he remarked: "We have had long discussions with Ross about how he could continue with the team but it is a basic fact that you cannot hold somebody back when they have chosen to move on." When the first reports of Brawn's impending departure broke ahead of the Abu Dhabi GP earlier this month, the team's current driver pairing of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton notably stressed that the outfit had enough strength in depth to cope with any departure of their Team Principal. Reacting to confirmation of Brawn's exit on Twitter on Thursday, Rosberg, who was hired by the Englishman in 2010, said he had enjoyed his time working with the legendary figure but that Mercedes could still prosper in 2014. "Was a great experience to work with Ross. He is a great leader and we shared special times like my first win and Monaco win," Rosberg wrote. "Our ambition is to be leading next year. Now on we go flat out with Paddy and Toto! Starting with seat fit & 2014 simulator tomorrow." On Tuesday, Lewis Hamilton spoke optimistically of the team challenging for both the Drivers' and Constructors' Championship in 2014. Whether that ambition is hindered by Brawn's exit from the team remains to be seen.