Ross Brawn will stand down as principal and leave the Mercedes Formula One team at the end of the year.
The Briton, who turned 59 last week, will hand over his responsibilities to executive directors Toto Wolff (business) and Paddy Lowe (technical) and formally leave the British-based team on December 31st.
The official announcement ended one of the longest running sagas of the season, with speculation surrounding Brawn's future since before the championship started in March.
His departure will bring change for drivers Lewis Hamilton, Britain's 2008 world champion with McLaren, and Germany's Nico Rosberg although the succession has been widely discussed and Brawn's successors have had time to work themselves in.
Lowe was with Hamilton at McLaren previously while Austrian Wolff, a former Williams team director, is also in charge of Mercedes's broader motorsport activities.
Brawn is one of the most successful and respected figures in the sport after winning a string of world championships with three different teams.
He was the tactical brains behind Michael Schumacher's seven world championships - two with Benetton and then five in a row at Ferrari between 2000-04.
After leaving Ferrari at the end of 2006 to take a sabbatical, and spend some time fishing, he joined the Honda team at the end of 2007 and led them until the Japanese manufacturer withdrew from the sport a year later.
With Brawn GB, the team that emerged from the remains of Honda and was later sold to Mercedes, he won both world championships in 2009.