Why Brawn left Mercedes

[Dare]

Not trusting Lauda I can see but Wolf...I thought he was honest

http://www.planetf1.com/news/brawn-couldnt-trust-wolff-and-lauda/

[Scott]

Wow...I think I'm going to have to get that book...looks fascinating.

I've only found Wolff to be marginally less slimy than Lauda. 

[Jericoke]

I remember when the Mercedes team was coming together the word was too many roosters in the hen house and it couldn't possibly work.

I wouldn't necessarily look to Wolff, nor Lauda nor Brawn as the villain here.  Mercedes really was trying something new, so it's a shame it didn't work out, and much more a shame that it cost the sport a man like Brawn.  Ultimately it was part of the process of learning how to run a factory backed F1 team.  Mercedes realizing that having the 'best' people doesn't make the best team, and Brawn realizing that when you answer to millions of shareholders, you don't get everything you want.

As for his comment that Todt would never use the 'Ferrari Veto':  I don't believe that for a second.  I do believe anything Ferrari would have vetoed was simply never put forth: it would have embarrassed the sport too much.

[Alianora La Canta]

The only reason Todt wouldn't use it is because it was di Montezemelo's. And he did use it on a number of occasions, notably in 2004 to stop cost-cutting measures. (It became public knowledge in 2003 when Max Mosley revealed Ferrari could have stopped the irregular rule changes at the start of that year using it, but chose not to do so).

I think the Mercedes situation was simply too many chefs in the same kitchen. You can get away with having a particular style if the other chefs don't have a conflicting style... ...but the more chefs in there, the more likely a major clash with result, with someone running out of there, followed by an explosion and clanging crockery.

[Monty]

Most of us had already guessed that Brawn had been made to feel marginalised.
I wasn't surprised that Brawn left but my guess was that he couldn't stand Lauda's involvement I was surprised the last straw was Paddy Lowe's appointment.
None of this should be surprising because this is the way German corporations work - when I was recruited to join my German employer they had four Managing Directors working in the same business unit! What has surprised me is that they have made it work so successfully. I would guess this is mostly due to the political brilliance of Totto Wolff - it certainly has nothing to do with Lauda!