“The process of improving Formula One tends to be done on a crisis-by-crisis basis – rather than as a continuous plan,” Ross Brawn says as he considers the possibility of returning to the struggling sport he loves. Brawn played an integral role in winning 20 world championships – including 10 constructors’ titles for Williams, Benetton, Ferrari and Brawn GP, and a matching number of drivers’ championships during a 40-year career.

“That success has been because of a methodical approach which asks: ‘Where do we want to be next year – and in three years?’” the former team principal explains. “I identify the objectives and put together the teams to achieve those aims. For me, Formula One has never had that vision. It’s never done the analysis to understand what spectators want. A complex series of demands are made on the sport but the enthusiast is at the core. If we don’t make it exciting, and we don’t have the fans tuning in or going to the races, we haven’t got much of a sport. But there is no strategy to develop Formula One.”

Brawn’s experience and acumen would bolster a listing business during these last days of Bernie Ecclestone’s domination. Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton are locked in battle to decide which of the two Mercedes drivers will become world champion in the season’s last race a week on Sunday. The odds favour Rosberg, with his 12-point lead, but few outside the F1 hardcore have been compelled for much of the season. Mercedes, whose supremacy has been built on the solid foundations laid down by Brawn, have outstripped their rivals for three successive seasons. The 61-year-old sold Brawn GP to Mercedes but remained with the team until his retirement in 2013, when he left feeling undermined by his new colleagues Toto Wolff and Niki Lauda.

Brawn contrasts his approach with the sport he hopes to revitalise – amid speculation that while Ecclestone and Liberty Media, F1’s future owners, work out who will run the commercial side, Brawn could take charge of racing’s regulations and sporting elements. “A couple of years ago someone involved in Formula One invited me to come up with some solutions. But they wanted it straight away. I said: ‘I can’t do that. I’d like to be involved in generating a plan over the next two years.’ He said: ‘We don’t have time for that. We need solutions now.’

“But Formula One is the same as it was when I was asked that question. We would have been two years down the road if my philosophy had been followed. So that’s my frustration. Things don’t work and we react – like the new qualifying system at the beginning of the year, which was a disaster. Surely there is a better way?”

Brawn is now a consultant for Liberty Media – but will that work continue next year? “Obviously what I am doing for them is confidential. It will be in the short term until they find their feet. So there is no commitment long term.”

He laughs at the suggestion that, according to some racing insiders, Brawn taking charge of F1’s sporting side is certain. “No, that’s not a done deal.”

Does it remain a distinct possibility? “I don’t know where it will go, to be honest. I’ve given them my views on Formula One and what could be helpful. Chase Carey [the new chairman of the sport] is going to races and understanding the business. We’ll see what happens but Bernie has to decide what he’s doing in the short, medium and long term. There are lots of possibilities – but no certainties.”

Has the 86-year-old Ecclestone contacted him? “No, he hasn’t offered me a job,” Brawn chortles. “Liberty Media and Bernie have to decide how it’s going to work and it may carry on exactly as it is now. But none of us is immortal and it needs to change at some point. I’m giving some support to Liberty Media – but whether it leads to anything substantial depends on Bernie and other people.”

Brawn’s relationship with Ecclestone has been strained but he suggests: “I’d quite enjoy working with him now. Seeing Bernie from the inside would be lots of fun. But Bernie has not been great with partnerships.”

The implication remains that Brawn would welcome the chance to help run the sport. “I’ve engaged my interest again. I left determined I would not get involved with a team again because that would be a rerun of what I’d done and I was happy with what I’d achieved. This is the only thing that would interest me in F1 – if the opportunity arises.”

Retirement has given Brawn the time to publish his first book. Written with Adam Parr, the former chairman of Williams’s F1, Total Competition is an intriguing collection of interviews between them as well as an analysis of the way in which military strategy, exemplified by Sun Tzu’s Art of War, relates to the machinations of racing. The book also provides an overview of Brawn’s extraordinary career and offers insight into his departure from Mercedes. In regard to Wolff and Lauda, Brawn stresses that, “knowing you couldn’t trust them, you couldn’t lean on them, was a problem”.

But Brawn reacts cheerfully to the news that Wolff would welcome his return to Formula One. “There’s no problem between me and Toto now. Formula One is a tough business and you cross swords with many people. But I always wanted to compete with someone on a Sunday and have a glass of wine with them afterwards. Same with Mercedes. I may not agree with everything they do but I want us to have a decent relationship. I’ve since seen Toto socially several times.

“The book helped me realise I was as much responsible for events as they were. It had run its course and the motivation I once had didn’t exist any more. Just winning another world championship was not a reason for me to stay. But I had lots of good friends and felt sensitive towards Lewis because I had persuaded him to go to Mercedes. But the team was in very good shape and all the signs were that 2014 would be a winning year. So it proved.”

Does a small part of Mercedes still feel like Brawn’s team? “You cannot go on claiming credit indefinitely,” he smiles. “They’ve been generous in acknowledging I provided the structure and created the team but I said to Toto: ‘You haven’t dropped the ball.’ They haven’t cocked it up. There are so many examples of teams with the biggest budgets not winning. Toyota had so many years in Formula One and didn’t win a race.”

In contrast, even when Honda pulled out in 2008, Brawn could still develop a championship-winning team in his own name the very next season. “It was a traumatic experience,” he says, remembering being summoned to a hotel in Slough to hear Honda’s decision. “It was such a shock. I had tough periods in Formula One but that was the toughest. So many careers depended on it and we had a good car we didn’t want to waste. Emotions were highly charged.

“It was the most demanding and exhausting period of my career, but also the most rewarding. We went from November, when we were told the team was closing, to winning the first race in March. It was very special. I was fortunate to achieve success at Ferrari [winning six constructors’ and five drivers’ titles] in a structured and conventional way. This was totally unconventional and unstructured.”

Jenson Button, who is taking a sabbatical from formula one at the end of the season, won the drivers’ title for Brawn. In the book he expresses surprise Button only seemed to find conviction at the very end of the season. “The driver’s talent is vital,” he says. “A great driver can win a championship in an average car. An average driver might be fortunate to win a championship in a great car. But no great driver has ever won a championship in a poor car. When you get a great driver and a great car it’s unbeatable. At Mercedes they’ve got great drivers and a great car.

“We had that for a long period at Ferrari with Michael Schumacher. You become unassailable. But look at Fernando Alonso. It’s frustrating to see a huge talent in struggling cars. He’s [only] won two world championships and for a guy of his talent that’s almost a travesty.”

Do Hamilton and Alonso stand out as today’s most gifted drivers? “Yeah, but Nico has been impressive too. He is tough, very quick and very talented – but probably doesn’t have Lewis’s Nth degree. Nico makes up for it with his application. Whoever wins it will deserve it … but, for his tenacity and determination, I’d edge slightly to Nico.”

Brawn believes Schumacher, who won all but three of his 91 grands prix in partnership with the Englishman, “was the best of all not just for his driving ability – but his ability to be a crucial part of creating our teams at Benetton and Ferrari. He was a dream to work with – but Michael is the only driver of that calibre I’ve worked with and he is a friend. So I’m biased.”

How did Brawn hear the news of Schumacher’s skiing accident three years ago – which left him in a coma from which he is recovering slowly. “I was going up to Scotland for new year and his PA called. We cancelled our plans and went to see him. It was terribly traumatic for the family – and shocking for us. Michael was such a strong character and all through his racing career he only suffered a broken leg. The irony of this happening during a quieter life was terrible.”

Does Brawn still visit Schumacher? “We do. We go see him and hope and pray that one day he will make a recovery. I was quoted as saying he’s improving and it was not what I really meant. The family are conducting his convalescence in private and I need to respect that. So I don’t want to comment on his condition beyond saying we’re extremely hopeful we’ll see Michael as we knew him at some point in the future.”

Brawn admits he has missed racing. “You miss that adrenaline rush of Saturday qualifying and Sunday racing. But you also miss the preparation – and the more complex reward of knowing you have put together a team that has won a championship.”

Jousting with Ecclestone next year might satisfy his competitive zeal again. “Bernie is pressing all the time. He’s always trying to satisfy his needs as the head of the commercial organisation so it’s a better deal for him. He might try to minimise how much he pays the teams or get the rule changes he wants. Whatever Bernie wants he will find a way to try and achieve that. He doesn’t really care how he does it. Bernie is impulsive and, in some ways, chaotic. I am the opposite. I often tell young people that ‘luck is preparation waiting for an opportunity’. Preparation is education, attitude, commitment, dedication. If you apply those principles, you can take the opportunity when it comes along.”

Brawn looks up and smiles. “Maybe I’ll get lucky again …”

• Total Competition by Ross Brawn & Adam Parr [Simon & Schuster] is available from Guardian Bookshop