Nov.12 (GMM) Ross Brawn, formerly technical director at Ferrari, will on Monday be unveiled as Honda's new team principal with immediate effect, according to media reports.

Despite links with either a return to Ferrari or a switch to Red Bull or Toyota, the London broadsheet Daily Telegraph claims the 52-year-old will replace Nick Fry, who is set to stay at the Japanese team as chief executive.

The move follows Brawn's one-year sabbatical in 2007, after ten years technically guiding the ultra-successful Michael Schumacher era at Ferrari.

Honda floundered to an embarrassing low this year, as Jenson Button delivered just six points and teammate Rubens Barrichello ended the first of his fifteen seasons in formula one without troubling the score sheets.

The Telegraph claims that Brawn's talks with Ferrari "broke down" in October.

Brawn and Fry reportedly travelled to Tokyo for high-level talks earlier this month, and the deal was formally signed last week.