Ross Brawn will return to Formula 1, says Niki Lauda

Ross Brawn will be back in Formula 1 after taking a break, according to former world champion Niki Lauda.

Brawn, 59, is leaving his role as Mercedes team principal at the end of the year.

And Lauda, a non-executive director at Mercedes, is convinced Brawn's absence will only be temporary.

"He says he wants a rest," said Lauda. "So it's very simple. He will not go in pension [retirement]. This is clear. I think he will come back."

The Austrian said he tried to persuade Brawn to stay on for another season, and that the Englishman would continue in a personal advisory role to Lauda.

"I'm very sad because I wanted him to stay another year," said Lauda, who won three world titles in his F1 career in the 1970s and early 1980s.

"But he says he wants to go fishing. I really tried hard but he stays a consultant to me, which I think is very good and important."

Mercedes will now be run by executive directors Toto Wolff and Paddy Lowe.

Wollf, like Lauda a shareholder in Mercedes F1, is in charge of the business and political sides of the team, while Lowe, the former McLaren technical director, will run the sporting and technical aspects.

Mercedes finished second to Red Bull in the constructors' championship this season, an improvement from fifth in 2012, with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg taking fourth and sixth in the drivers' championship respectively.