Brawn Takes On More Responsibility at Ferrari

Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn has ruled out taking over from Jean Todt as boss of the Formula One team.

Asked about speculation that he might take the helm following Todt's promotion to oversee the company's road car operations as well as the sporting side, Brawn said the Frenchman remained in charge.

But he told a US Grand Prix news conference that the champions were making some changes to cover for Todt's increased workload.

"Myself, Stefano Domenicali, Nigel Stepney, several people at the factory will be taking on extra responsibility to cover some of the areas which Jean is no longer responsible for," said Brawn.

"I must say I enjoy the engineering, I enjoy the racing side and I don't want things to interfere with that too much. I went to a team principals' meeting, I think, in Nurburgring or one of the earlier races and talked about qualifying, and it occupied three or four hours on a Saturday afternoon.

"Well, I simply don't have that time at the moment, at least. So it's important that I don't get too distracted from what I'm here for and what I actually enjoy doing.

"But we're all going to merge, we're all going to move a little bit, we're all going to take on some extra responsibilities to cover the hole that Jean's left in some respects, but Jean will always be there on the racing side as a team principal."

Todt has taken on new responsibilities after Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo became head of the Fiat group as well as the Italian employers' federation Confindustria.