The Big Picture
The big picture for Formula 1 remains the transfer market, in more ways than one. This week Ross Brawn announced he was leaving Mercedes due to them not allowing him to be the sole team principal and lead the team. With a deal unable to be struck he has elected to leave at the end of the season, despite Nikki Lauda's desire for him to stay. The role will now be split between Toto Wolff on the business side and Paddy Lowe on the technical side, formerly of McLaren. Whilst Mercedes say a single principal for the future is not a modern approach to F1 with all its complexity, and some baffling comments from Hamilton that suggested Brawn was not the be all and end all of Formula 1 technical managers, it pricked up a lot of peoples ears as everyone else is well aware of Ross Brawn's brilliance, and quite happy to benefit if Mercedes are stupid enough to force him out of the team that went from nearly dropping out of F1 to winning both titles in a year as Brawn GP. With Ross apparently a free agent, it has been suggested that he will retire, but others don't think so, myself included. Would Ross Brawn really just chuck it in and go fishing, as he did on sabbatical in 2007, or would he rather go to another team and chuck it in Mercedes face by beating them? I think the latter. There is no shortage of options as every other team almost would love to have him, though they may not be able to afford him if he demands such things. There have been denials, but the leading candidates for him appear to be Williams and McLaren. There is the suggestion that Brawn could take a role with Honda for 2014 in their new engine programme for the next turbocharged generation, with him then taking them to a new role in McLaren for 2015. Alternatively he may go to Williams, potentially with Felipe Massa and his engineer Rob Smedley, to help grow them back to a front running team, as he did with Ferrari and Schumacher in the 1990s, and Honda/Brawn just a few years ago. It wouldn't be a big shock if he did as his relationship with Frank Williams goes way back and he previously worked for them in a junior role in the very early 1990s. I for one would love to see that, and such a move would be a big boost for the former champions. With that, the driver market is still very fluid at the moment. Rumours also surfaced this week that Felipe Massa had signed with Williams on a five-year deal, though they were denied, although he did admit talking to them. He is also still a candidate for Lotus, Force India or Sauber seemingly. Hulkenberg's future looks a little less certain despite his clear excellence as Maldonado was revealed as his primary rival for Lotus' second seat beside Grosjean, and with his financial backing and Lotus' financial problems, it may be a relationship that has to be made to secure the team. Sutil is confident of his future in F1 though he couldn't say any more about it, suggesting he's moved up the order somewhere, potentially to McLaren as a replacement for Perez, or maybe to that Lotus seat in a surprise move. Torro Rosso announced Ricciardo's replacement as 19-yr-old Russian GP3 driver Daniil Kvyat instead of the expected Antonio Felix Da Costa, suggesting business is more at the centre of the decision than outright ability ahead of next year's inaugural Russian Grand Prix. It seems come Australia 2014, someone quite major might end up sat on the sidelines without a drive.