Serving as the technical director of the championship-winning Benetton and Ferrari teams, he earned fame as the "mastermind" behind Michael Schumacher's seven world championship titles.

He became interested in engineering during his early years, often visiting Belle Vue Stadium to watch various forms of motor racing.

In 2006, Brawn received an honorary degree of Doctor of Engineering (DEng) from Brunel University for his services to motorsport.

[6] His career in motorsport began in 1976 when he joined March Engineering in the town of Bicester as a milling machine operator.

Despite the car being designed by Rory Byrne, Brawn was credited by much of the specialist press with being an important part of these championships, particularly in terms of devising race strategy.

He was renowned for his race strategies as the team began to challenge for the championship from 1997, despite the superiority of the Williams cars that year and the McLarens from 1998 onwards.

After these rebuilding years, as Ferrari technical director, he helped them regain glory when the team won the Constructors' Championship in 1999, the first of six consecutive titles.

In 2005, Ferrari never quite found form, and had to relinquish the title to Renault, and Schumacher passed the crown to Fernando Alonso.

Towards the end of 2007, it was reported that Brawn was to join the big-spending Red Bull outfit as part of a package intended to attract double world champion Fernando Alonso.

With the withdrawal of Honda from Formula One announced in late 2008, Brawn was effectively out of the sport unless a buyer could quickly be found.

Many aspects of Honda were retained under the new ownership, including the experienced driver line-up of Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button.

Brawn was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2010 New Year Honours for services to motorsport.

[18] In December 2009, seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher confirmed that the main reason he decided to come out of retirement and drive for Mercedes GP was because of Brawn.

The start of the 2010 season was rather slow, and in the first three races Schumacher managed only sixth in Bahrain, tenth in Australia, and retired in Malaysia because of a lost wheel nut, whilst Schumacher's teammate and fellow-countryman Nico Rosberg had a bit more success with the car, finishing fifth in Bahrain and in Australia, and scoring the first podium for Mercedes Grand Prix with a third place in Malaysia.

The team continued its good run from China with Schumacher qualifying fastest at Monaco, and Rosberg finishing on the podium.

In the second race of the season, Mercedes finished third (Hamilton) and fourth (Rosberg), amid a controversial Malaysian Grand Prix.

Brawn spoke to both drivers over team radio asking them to hold position for fear of high degrading Pirelli tyres and a lack of fuel on board both cars.

Following multiple tyre failures at the British Grand Prix, Pirelli reverted to the 2012 components after the summer break, which saw Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull win all the remaining races and the championships.

[22] On 1 February 2014, Brawn announced his retirement from Formula One, ending speculation of a possible position at the Woking-based McLaren team.

[23] In an interview with The Daily Telegraph in October 2016, Brawn indicated that he was ready to return to Formula 1, although in a strategic rather than a team role.