BUDAPEST, Aug 2 - Ferrari have played down talk of the Formula One team's technical director Ross Brawn taking a sabbatical next year.

"It's just another speculation," said a team spokesman on Wednesday. "We will tell the structure of the team only after the end of the season."

Britain's weekly Autosport magazine quoted unnamed sources as saying it was '100 percent certain' that the 51-year-old Briton would take a break next year after 10 years at the Italian glamour team.

Brawn has masterminded all of world champion Michael Schumacher's seven world championships, two of them with Benetton in 1994 and 1995, and his future is likely to be closely linked to that of the German driver.

Schumacher, 37, has yet to announce whether he is staying or retiring next year.