Ross Brawn insists great wealth has not affected his drive to succeed.
As team boss, the Briton bought Brackley based Honda for a nominal pound after the 2008 season, before ‘Brawn GP’ and Jenson Button raced to the drivers’ and constructors’ titles.

At the end of that campaign, Brawn sold the team to Mercedes, and the Financial Times claims the Briton – still team principal – collected dozens of millions of dollars.

“I’m obviously a lot wealthier now than before and you wonder if you still have the same motivation to get up in the morning,” Brawn said.

“But it did not alter my perspective or my passion and ambition to succeed in racing.”

His job now is to win for Mercedes, and 2012 is year three, and the end of Michael Schumacher’s initial contract.

“If it does not come off I will have to recognise there is something missing, something I am not able to do that perhaps someone else should have a go at,” revealed Brawn.

Nico Rosberg does not think his dominance within the Mercedes team this year has been well enough recognised.

Indeed, the focus of attention at the Brackley based squad in 2010 has been Michael Schumacher’s difficult return to the sport.

But the context of the seven time world champion’s struggle has been Rosberg’s 13:3 dominance in qualifying, and his 68 point margin over his famous teammate in the drivers’ championship.

Rosberg, who moved to Mercedes in 2010 after four seasons at Williams, said: “I don’t think my performance is well enough recognised.”

Schumacher’s problems this year have been explained as due to Bridgestone’s new narrower front tyres, which do not suit his driving style.

But “It’s the same for me,” 25-year-old Rosberg told the German weekly Sport Bild.

“Actually I think Michael has been able to adapt his driving style better than I have,” said the German, whose Finnish father is the 1982 world champion Keke Rosberg.

Rosberg also played down the effect of Schumacher’s three-year break since initially retiring in 2006.

“Michael has 15 years of experience in formula one,” he said.

Rosberg said his own recent experience “hasn’t advantaged me because it’s mainly been with grooved tyres, and the current front tyre is different from anything else before it”.

Mercedes’ competition boss Norbert Haug insists Rosberg’s efforts have not been undervalued within the team.

“I think it’s absolutely obvious that Nico has so far extracted what was possible from the car,” he said.  “Only on a very few occasions was this not the case.

“I think he learned a lot with Williams and if you would name one of the top guys that are currently young and experienced in formula one you would certainly mention Nico,” added Haug.

“So Nico is a very good benchmark for probably everybody in the field.”

Brawn’s fight for survival affected the design process of the 2010 Mercedes car, according to Michael Schumacher.

Despite aiming for the world championship with the W01, Mercedes GP is a distant fourth in the constructors’ standings, a year after the same Brackley based team won the 2009 titles before being sold to the German marque.

“Ross (Brawn) was busy last year with quite a few other things, like securing the future of the team. So he could not fully concentrate on the development of the (2010) car,” Schumacher is quoted by Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport.

“I can live with the situation even if I am not happy about it,” added the seven time world champion. “We have to recognise the reasons.”

F1′s harsh spotlight of the international media is shining on Ferrari and Fernando Alonso, but also the regulation prohibiting team orders.

In a frosty post-race press conference at Hockenheim, some reporters warned Spaniard Alonso he now risks winning a “dirty” championship, comparing his win at the hands of an illegal team order to his victory at Singapore in 2008.

“That’s your opinion,” the Ferrari driver told them.

Team orders, of course – dating back to the gentleman racer’s days when number two drivers would pull into the pits to hand over their cars – are nothing new.

“This was just handled very badly,” said Lotus’ Mike Gascoyne.

And Ferrari’s handling in Germany, with Felipe Massa ordered aside by way of a coded message from apologetic engineer Rob Smedley, fuelled the media’s fire.

“I am glad that the media in the paddock are kind of like our police,” remarked Alex Wurz.

But according to Spain’s Marca sports daily, “the English press showed no mercy” for a driver who clashed so memorably with Lewis Hamilton back in 2007.

The Sunday Express called Alonso and Ferrari “dirty, thieving cheats”, while even the milder Daily Telegraph admitted that the World Motor Sport Council could in theory disqualify the famous team from formula one at an August meeting.

“A suspension for a number of races is another possibility,” said the Daily Mail.

Triple world champion Niki Lauda scolded Alonso for blatantly denying he had won the race thanks to a team order.  The Independent newspaper said “nobody was fooled” by Alonso’s argument that he wasn’t aware of the fix.

“I’ve never heard a driver talk such bullshit.  He has no character,” said Austrian great Lauda.

Dr Helmut Marko, under fire for some recent decisions at Red Bull, revelled in the change of fortune.

“It is unbelievable how awkwardly they demonstrated who is their number one.  The FIA must react with a drastic punishment,” he is quoted by Blick.

The Swiss newspaper’s correspondent agreed: “There are different ways for Alonso to return to the throne.  Lying and cheating should not be one of them.”

Even the usually partisan AS newspaper remarked: “Alonso deserved to win the German grand prix, but not like this.  Domenicali has confirmed his true ineptitude by giving Massa obvious team orders that are prohibited by the rules.”

Said Brazil’s Folha de S.Paulo: “It was an insult to the sport.”

Rio de Janeiro’s Lance added: “We regret writing it, but from Massa it was a lack of courage.”

Rubens Barrichello, whose move for Michael Schumacher in 2002 motivated the team order ban, said: “I will speak to Felipe myself.  Nothing has changed at Ferrari.

“I think you can read my opinion better from my face,” he stormily told Brazilian radio Jovem Pan.

Said French newspaper Liberation: “Ferrari is a team unlike another; when not undermined by political intrigue, they shoot themselves in the foot.”

La Libre wondered how the FIA is going to react at the World Motor Sport Council: “Would Jean Todt dare punish his old team for a practice he applied himself?  We honestly doubt it.”

Another side of the story is what Renault’s customer engine boss Fabric Lom described on Europe 1 radio as the “hypocrisy” of the current regulations.

Agreed Italy’s Corriere dello Sport: “It is fair to recognise that the problem is in the regulations.”

Rome daily Il Tempo said Ferrari “did the right thing in the wrong way”, and Spain’s El Mundo said the team order ban is “a regulation that penalises team interests”.

Italy’s Autosprint marvelled that Ferrari was “fined for teamwork!”

Said Britain’s Telegraph: “Ferrari were caught and they must pay.  But the rule is unenforceable.  To pretend otherwise is deluded.”

Mercedes’ Norbert Haug does not quite agree: “We need to think of the spectators.  They want to see fights on the track, not these actions.

“The different teams have different attitudes about team orders.”

To the Spanish press, Alonso argued: “The ones who pay us are the team, not the newspapers or anyone else, and now Ferrari is taking 43 points back to Italy.

“And that is what we have to do — what is best for the team.  On Friday I was faster, I was second in qualifying and faster than Felipe in the race.  I don’t think the slower driver won this race,” he added.