Ross Brawn Pushing for Radical Revamp of Formula One

Formula One Managing Director Ross Brawn has admitted that he did not like the fact that Formula One racing was being affected by so many technical issues. “I know you can say if a car breaks down in a race that’s a technical issue and you’ve affected the race, but I think the fans understand that. For a fan to stomach that his hero is on the back of the grid because he had to change the engine, that’s not great sport. We’ve got to find a solution to that, either through a different form of penalty or to remove the penalty altogether and just live with the problem that it was trying to fix.”

Although he has said that discussions are taking place, it is very easy to find myopic solutions, but what F1 needs are solutions that are long-term. He hoped that something would be in place by 2021 when new engine rules are supposed to take effect. He admitted to not being too keen on imposing grid penalties for replacing each component.

No DRS?

Brawn is aware that the Drag Reduction System has been a subject of conflict among F1 fans for a while. So to that effect, he said that another long-term goal is to eliminate the DRS system.

“It’s a compromise,” said Brawn. “I think we have it, and what we should do is find a better solution. Because it is an enhancement to aid overtaking, and what we really want is the cars to be able to slipstream one another properly and overtake. So for me the solution, which we’ve now started a program on, is to develop the cars, design the cars, so that they can race each other in close proximity.”

He said that fans would prefer to see real overtaking moves rather than see drivers wait for a DRS zone and push the button to overtake.