Tuesday 2 January at 08:15 : Departing technical director Ross Brawn has confirmed speculation about his 'sabbatical', admitting that he hopes to return to the Ferrari team in 2008.

"I felt it would be a good time at 52-years-old to take a gap year and then look for the next challenge, which I hope comes from within Ferrari," he told the British broadcaster ITV in an end of year interview.

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo said recently that while he would not refer to Brawn's plans for 2007 as a sabbatical, the Briton will meet with team chiefs in the middle of this year to discuss a possible future role.

Brawn is, for instance, tipped as a possible successor to Jean Todt.

He said of his "gap" year: "I just felt that personally I need the next challenge."

Brawn admitted that the concurrent departure of Michael Schumacher and other key Ferrari players is "a little bit unfortunate".

He added: "These guys now coming in have got to learn to work with Kimi (Raikkonen), an extremely fast driver but who no doubt has a different way of working to Michael."

GMMF1
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