Brawn suggested in new book 'trust' issues led to his Mercedes exit
Monday 24 October 2016 14:16, UK
Toto Wolff says criticism of him from Ross Brawn was the result of the former Mercedes boss being misquoted.
Brawn's remarks were published in his new book, 'Total Competition - Lessons in strategy from Formula 1', extracts of which appeared in the British press this week.
According to Reuters, Brawn writes of his Mercedes exit: 'I was beginning to deal with people who I didn't feel I could ultimately trust; people within the team, who had let me down already in terms of their approach. Then in early 2013, I discovered Paddy Lowe had been contracted to join the team and it had been signed off in Stuttgart. When I challenged Toto and Niki, they blamed each other. I met them to have it out with them. And they both pointed to each other.'
But according to Wolff, there is no animosity between him and Brawn, considered to be the architect behind Mercedes' three successive championship doubles.
"I have read the quotes and Ross has been in touch," Wolff told Sky F1. "Apparently some of the quotes were taken out of context and I accept that.
"A restructuring of an organisation is always a difficult time and delicate. When Ross decided to leave we had a pretty successful run of championships afterwards and that is a difficult situation.
"I respect him as a person and respect him very much as an engineer and none of these quotes has changed that."
