Dressed in uncharacteristic 'civvies', including a patriotic red, white and blue checked shirt, Ross Brawn, sat back in his chair underneath the awning of the Ferrari motorhome at Monza. A few minutes earlier he had finally confirmed that the recent speculation was correct, that he was preparing to stand down, to follow Michael Schumacher out of the gates of the Ferrari F1 team, and get on with the rest of his life.
The announcement left things open, with Brawn revealing that there would be a meeting next summer, to discuss whether the Englishman might return to the Italian team, perhaps taking control.
In the meantime however, there was that little matter of retirement, be it permanent or, as they say, temporary. Away from the excitement, the glamour, the split-second thrill of F1, how will one of the sport's great tacticians spend his time?
"We have a programme that takes us through to the middle of next year," he told Bob Constanduros. "We're going to New York in December, we're going to Argentina in January, the Seychelles in February and then we have a six week tour of New Zealand in March and April, to keep our mind off the first race!
"I have very kindly had an invite to come and watch the first race," he admits, "but I don't think I will be doing that."
After a brief pause, a smile crosses his face; "Then I'm going to Russia in the summer on a fishing expedition and a couple of trips to the States, lots of offers, very kind offers from friends and people I know in different parts of the world so we're got the first third/half of next year planned and then we will see how it goes from there."
"So the fish of the world need to be warned, do they!" jokes Bob
"Well, you know you always have to have a theme when you go on these world tours," laughs Brawn, "and the theme is to find somewhere to fish for a few days each time we go, and Jean (his wife) is glad that she's used to having to amuse herself on occasions.
"When we're in New Zealand, the girls and their husbands are coming and the boys have been converted to fishing as well, so I'm taking the boys off for a few days fishing on various occasions and the girls are going off whale-watching and white water rafting and all the rest of it so it's going to be tremendous."
Outside, an engine kicks into life, the Monza crowd cheers, anticipating the arrival of the dream team, of which Brawn is a prized member.
"When did you decide on your own future?" asks Bob.
"I renewed my last two years with Ferrari, years nine and ten; when I renewed, I mentioned to Jean (Todt) it would quite possibly be the last contract I wanted to do because it was ten years," he replies. "There was a little bit of let's say consideration that I had been ten years - I've never been anywhere for ten years before. I've never been in a team for that long. If you'd asked me before I joined Ferrari, are you going to be here in ten years time, I would have thought that was highly unlikely, so when I renewed my contract, I mentioned to Jean that I'm not sure I'm going to go beyond this, but it really wasn't something to talk about until we got nearer the time, and then during 2006 we talked about it again and in early 2006, I was really seriously thinking of taking a break for a year or longer.
