Ross Brawn

Ross James Brawn (born 23 November 1954) is a British Formula One managing director, motor sports and technical director.

He is a former motorsport engineer and Formula One team principal, and has worked for a number of Formula One teams.

Teams with Brawn in an essential role have won eight constructors' championships and eight drivers' championships in total.

Serving as the technical director of the championship-winning Benetton and Ferrari teams, he earned fame as the "mastermind" behind Michael Schumacher's seven world championship titles.

In 1971, he was taken on as a mechanical craft apprentice by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority at its Atomic Energy Research Establishment in Harwell, Oxfordshire, where he qualified as an instrument mechanic.

He went on to start an HNC in Mechanical Engineering, still funded by Harwell.

Living in Reading, he found an advertisement for Frank Williams Grand Prix, which were based in Reading at that time; he was interviewed by Patrick Head.

Williams were looking for a milling machinist which was one of the skills he learnt at Harwell.

Brawn lives in Stoke Row, near Henley-on-Thames.

In his spare time he enjoys gardening, fishing and listening to music.

His career in motorsport began in 1976 when he joined March Engineering in the town of Bicester as a milling machine operator.

Soon afterwards, he joined their Formula 3 racing team as a mechanic.

Brawn was hired by Frank Williams in 1978 as a machinist for the newly formed Williams team.

He quickly moved up through the ranks, working in the R&D department with Frank Dernie and as an aerodynamicist in the team's wind tunnel.

Brawn joined the Haas Lola team in 1985 and was part of Neil Oatley's design team at FORCE that produced both the Lola THL1 and THL2 cars used by the team.

With the 4 cylinder Hart engine in the THL1 and the new Ford V6 turbo powering the THL2, results were scarce against teams like McLaren and Williams with their TAG-Porsche and Honda turbo engines.

This was despite the cars generally being regarded by most in the Formula One paddock as being the best handling cars on the grid, as well as having World Champion Alan Jones and former factory Ferrari and Renault driver Patrick Tambay as the drivers.

When the team left Formula One at the end of the season, Brawn moved to Arrows.

There, he designed the Megatron powered Arrows A10 and its update, the A10B for the and seasons respectively and the Ford V8 powered Arrows A11 used in.

Later in 1989, Brawn moved to the Jaguar Sportscar racing division, and was lead designer on the Jaguar XJR-14 which won the 1991 World Sportscar Championship.

Later in 1991 Brawn returned to Formula One as technical director of the Benetton team, helping it win consecutive World Drivers' Championships in 1994 and 1995 with Michael Schumacher, and to take the World Constructors' Championship in 1995.

Despite the car being designed by Rory Byrne, Brawn was credited by much of the specialist press with being an important part of these championships, particularly in terms of devising race strategy.

Brawn also persuaded Frank Dernie to join to help with car development and improve the team organisation.

Brawn followed Schumacher to Ferrari in late, at the end of Schumacher's first year with the team.

He was renowned for his race strategies as the team began to challenge for the championship from 1997, despite the superiority of the Williams cars that year and the McLarens from 1998 onwards.

After these rebuilding years, as Ferrari technical director, he helped them regain glory when the team won the Constructors' Championship in, the first of six consecutive titles.

The Brawn-guided Scuderia also powered Schumacher to five consecutive drivers' titles, from to.

Brawn's contributions to this unprecedented string of titles has led many to label him as a vital member of the Ferrari "dream team" along with Schumacher, team principal Jean Todt, and chief designer Rory Byrne.

In 2006, Brawn received an honorary degree of Doctor of Engineering (DEng) from Brunel University for his services to motorsport.

He took a sabbatical in 2007 and returned to F1 for the 2008 season as team principal of Honda.

Brawn acquired the Honda team in early 2009 to form the Brawn GP team, which won the Formula One Constructors' and Drivers' Championships in that year.

Mercedes bought into the team in November 2009, making Brawn team principal and co-owner with Nick Fry.

In 2011, Brawn and Fry sold the remaining shares to Mercedes Benz, with Brawn remaining as team principal.

On 18 November 2011, Brawn received a second honorary doctorate from Heriot-Watt University.

He is married to Jean.

In November 2013, it was announced that Brawn would step down, and leadership would be handed over to Paddy Lowe and Toto Wolff.

Following speculation linking him with other teams, Brawn announced his retirement from Formula One in February 2014.

Brawn was born in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, England.

He became interested in engineering during his early years, often visiting Belle Vue Stadium to watch various forms of motor racing.

He moved south aged 11 as his father took a job near Reading, Berkshire, and he subsequently attended Reading School in the town.