One of the highlight to watch in year 2008, Ross Brawn – the strategy star who used to be Ferrari strategy mastermind. Here are some snippets on a exclusive interview with the man himself.
Q: Ross, to start with, what have you done in your year off?
Ross Brawn: Surprisingly, considering the life you live in Formula One, I did a lot of travelling this year. I have realized that I’ve travelled to lots of places seeing only the airport, the hotel and the circuit, so my wife and I toured extensively, starting in South America at the beginning of the year, we then went to New Zealand and returned to South America – I even went to Russia on a fishing trip. You could say that travelling was the main thing I did in ‘07. And it was a totally new experience. If you don’t have any deadlines, you start to enjoy the trip. Before, the trip was just a headache before I got to where I wanted to do my job. You know that cliche that the journey is more important than the destination? I experienced that when you are on that sort of trip – without time pressures – it is often true.
Q: How long did you last watching races on television before the withdrawal symptoms started?
RB: The first race was very difficult because I’ve been to all the races for so many years. It felt really strange. I was in New Zealand in that period and as it’s the same time zone as Australia I watched it during the daytime on TV. It was a peculiar experience being so close and not being involved after 30 years of motor racing. And honestly, I missed it all the time – sure not all of it – but the racing and being part of a team, the technical side of developing a car and making it successful – that I missed. So obviously it’s just a question of finding the right balance between what you enjoy and what you don’t. And my desire to get involved again in all those things that I enjoyed grew over the year – just as I thought it would.
Q: Was not returning to Formula One ever an option?
RB: It certainly was a possibility. But I gave myself some time turning my mind off and not thinking about those things, and then in late summer/early autumn I started to reflect on what I would do. I am not too old yet, so I knew I would get involved in things again. Yes, I have looked at some other options outside of motor racing, and some were really interesting, but I don’t think they held the challenge that Formula One does. So a return was almost inevitable.
Q: Honda is a great new challenge, but the question that puzzles everyone is what turned you away from Ferrari? Everybody expected you to return there…
RB: My departure form Ferrari was a well orchestrated undertaking that was running over a three-year period. At the end of 2004 I signed a new two-year contract with Ferrari, knowing that this was the last contract that I wanted to do as it was then the end of a ten year period. So gradually we started to build a (new) structure in the areas I was responsible – and this year’s result has proved that this structure works, and that Ferrari remain a very strong team.
Full interview, visit http://www.formula1.com/news/interviews/2007/12/7148.html
Filed under: F1 | Tagged: 2008, Ferrari, Honda, interview, Ross Brawn
