Mercedes AMG Petronas confirmed reports this morning that Ross Brawn will step down from his position as Team Principal at the end of 2013.
 
Following an extended period of open discussion between the team's key stakeholders, Brawn has chosen to hand over the team leadership to Executive Director Toto Wolff and Executive Technical Director Paddy Lowe.

Brawn's tenure with the team appeared in jeopardy following the signing of Lowe, who began his career with Williams F1 and moved to McLaren, where he had been since 1993.
 
"The most important consideration in my decision to step down from the role as Team Principal was to ensure that the timing was right for the team in order to ensure its future success," Brawn said.
 
"The succession planning process that we have implemented during this year means we are now ready to conduct the transition from my current responsibilities to a new leadership team composed of Toto and Paddy."
 
As rumours unfolded, speculation began to swirl that the former Ferrari Team Principal responsible for the Schumacher era could be making a return to the the Scuderia sqaud. Currently, there are no reports on his plans for 2014.

"2014 will mark the beginning of a new era in the sport," Brawn said. "We therefore felt this was the right time to simultaneously begin a new era of team management to ensure that the organisation is in the strongest possible competitive position for the years to come."
 
"I am confident that the future will hold just as much success for the team and will take real pride in having played my own part in those achievements."