Ross Brawn refused to be drawn today on speculation that Lewis Hamilton could be on his way to Mercedes next year.
Brawn said that no decision had been taken on who will drive alongside Nico Rosberg, who has a multi-year contact with the team.
“We don’t comment on speculation, I’m afraid,” said Brawn. “So when we make our driver decision, then you’ll be the first to hear about it. But it’s still some way off.
“Coming to a conclusion on our driver situation will take some time still and when we’re there we’ll be very happy to share it with you. But we’ve still got some way to go.”
Inevitably the idea that Michael will stop at the end of this season is gathering momentum, although Brawn said nothing was clear yet.
“We’re discussing things with Michael and there’s no panic in those discussions. That’s what we’re focussed on at the moment.
“I don’t think it’s his [decision] alone, we’ve got to find a solution together. I can’t honestly go into details, but it’s not Michael’s decision to stay, it’s not our decision for him to stay, it’s a joint decision.
“It could be tomorrow, it could be a month. We’ve got a lot of things we’re discussing with him, and when we reach a conclusion, we’ll be happy to share it with you. I can’t set a timescale, I’m afraid.”
Asked specifically if he would like Michael to stay on, Brawn said: “I think Michael has a huge amount to offer. We saw his driving in Spa – a great performance in Spa that we didn’t back up with as strong a car as we’d want. And he’s had lots of performances like that this year.
“I’m very happy with Michael’s performance. With these technical challenges that we’re going to face particularly in 2014 someone of Michael’s experience and calibre would be great asset to any team, but particularly our team.”
Regarding Hamilton, he said: “Lewis is a very good driver, an excellent driver.”
Brawn made the point that Mercedes should be a team that’s capable of attracting the best drivers, whoever they might be.
“We want to be a team that every driver wants to drive for. We’ve got a tremendous history that we’d like to live up to. We haven’t quite got there yet. I think the plans we’re making, and the structure we’re putting in pace, particularly with the changes in regulations that are coming over the next couple of years, we are very ambitious in what we want to achieve.
“If we achieve what we want to achieve then we want to put ourselves in a position where every driver in F1 would consider driving for us. The last couple of years Red Bull has been a team that’s been very competitive, and most drivers want to have a red Bull under them. We want to be in a situation where most drivers want to have a Mercedes under them, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”
Adam Cooper F1 
This Mercedes vibe is a bit fabricated, the team had nothing to do whatsoever with Mercedes until 2009. Tyrrell, BAR, Honda but not Mercedes. It’s like calling the E20 a Lotus or pretending Toro Rosso is not a Minardi with a bit more cash. Obviously teams come and go, just not sure why ze Germans pretend their recent purchase is 100% Silver Arrow (terrible colour too).
With or without Schum, F1 won’t notice any difference. Apart from trying to quietly crash into other drivers or force them off track/into the wall, Schum hasn’t done anything worthy of attention since 2010. I reckon the guy who triggered this mess – Badoer – would’ve done better. Had MS made a short-lived comeback in 2009, he would’ve realized his time’s over. HAM to Brawncedes in 2013!
I would very much like Michael to stay for one more year in the hope that all the new ‘brains’ at Mercedes GP will come up with a decent car for his final year, which they certainly havn’t this year!
Love him [or not] Michael has done such a lot for Formula One worldwide, He has given us many spectacular races, always 100% the team player, the ultimate racer, and he will be missed, not only by me but by millions of fans [and despite the pundits best efforts, he does have millions of fans]. Viewing figures are down, track visitors numbers are down, and yes, you can blame the world wide recession but you can also blame the extraordinary on/off form that the `Pirelli tyres have produced and put Mercedes on the back foot, not to mention their reliability issues. It is extremely frustrating for a long term fan to turn on [and yes, I have to pay twice for the honour now] with no idea who will go well and who will languish in mid-field. While it has pretty much turned into a tyre championship, it has also turned into a ‘can Mercedes get to the end of the race without something going wrong?’ and sadly the answer is usually ‘No’.
Through all of this Michael has soldiered on, hiding his disappointment to the extent that people think he doesn’t care but he has never in his career talked down the team in public. If he does decide to go at the end of the season,at least he can say he gave it his best shot, pole position at Monaco, I would think, was a pretty good example, but Mercedes will be left with the fact that they let him down, big time.,