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Cape Town - Out-going Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn will take a six-month sabbatical before deciding whether to return to the sport, the Briton said on Friday.
Brawn has been involved with team management in Formula One for over 35 years but will leave his current team at the end of the year and take time to decide where his future lies.
"I am refusing to discuss any possible future positions until at least next summer," Brawn told the BBC.
"I want to clear my mind, take a rest and then decide if I want to return to F1, subject of course to any opportunities existing."
The 59-year-old is widely credited as a key figure behind Michael Schumacher's seven world titles at Benetton and Ferrari and also found success with his self-titled team in 2009, when Jenson Button won the world championship.
Brawn has already been linked in the media with roles at returning engine manufacturer Honda, the FIA, Williams and McLaren, the latter being a potential chance to team up with chairman Ross Dennis, who confirmed he had talked with Brawn.
"I did have a conversation with him but we were shooting together. We were having a chat and we're mature motor racing people so of course you're going to talk about life," Dennis said.
"But going beyond that, as you would expect, it's normal stuff. People probe around, the possible, the impossible."
Brawn will hand over his responsibilities at Mercedes to executive directors Toto Wolff (business) and Paddy Lowe (technical) and formally leave the team on December 31.
