Brawn gets strategic help

Michael Schumacher’s former engineer Luca Baldisseri will play a bigger role in determining the German and his team-mate Rubens Barrichello’s race strategies during the 2004 Formula One season.

According to the team’s technical director Ross Brawn, he will be stepping aside as Ferrari’s main race strategist and handing that role over to Baldisseri. He will, however, be available should Baldisseri need to consult him.

"I need somebody assisting me with strategy," Brawn told the German tabloid, Bild. "The preparation, with all its parameters, has become much more difficult."

With Brawn at the helm, Ferrari won eight races in 2003, six going to Schumacher and two to Barrichello. They also clinched a further eight podium positions between the two of them, as well as both Championship titles. Schumacher won his sixth Drivers’ title, while Barrichello helped him claim the Constructors’ Championship for Ferrari, the Scuderia’s fifth successive victory in the teams’ battle.