Breaking news

Formula 1

Brawn says new approach key to "avoiding a war" with F1 teams

Ross Brawn says the better long-term planning he is trying to implement in Formula 1 is the new ownership's way of "avoiding a war" between teams over future rules.

Ben Anderson

Edited: Jul 6, 2017, 11:27 AM

Copy link

Share on Facebook

Share on Twitter

Share on WhatsApp

Share on Linkedin

Share on Pinterest

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Ross Brawn, Managing Director of Motorsports, FOM, Gene Haas, Team Owner, Haas F1 Team

Illham Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan, Maurizio Arrivabene, Ferrari Team Principal and Ross Brawn, Formula One Managing Director of Motorsports Formula One World Championship, Rd8, Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Race, Baku City Circuit, Baku, Azerbaijan, Sunday 25 June 2017.

Ross Brawn, Formula One Managing Director of Motorsports

Ross Brawn, Managing Director of Motorsports, FOM, Gene Haas, Team Owner, Haas F1 Team

F1 driver group photo, Ross Brawn, Formula One Managing Director of Motorsports, Sean Bratches, Formula One Managing Director, Commercial Operations, Jean Todt, FIA President and Chase Carey, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Chairman of the Formula One Group

Eric Boullier, McLaren Racing Director and Ross Brawn, Formula One Managing Director of Motorsports

Ross Brawn, Managing Director of Motorsports, FOM, talks to Gene Haas F1 Team, Owner and Founder, Haas F1 Team

Ross Brawn, Formula One Managing Director of Motorsports

Ross Brawn, Managing Director of Motorsports, FOM, Chase Carey, Chairman, Formula One, talk to the media, including reporter Tom Clarkson

Formula 1's managing director of motorsports has spoken repeatedly about shifting away from former commercial boss Bernie Ecclestone's short-term focus and recently appointed a new team of experienced F1 engineers to help shape grand prix racing's future rulebook

Brawn said this forward-thinking approach is the best way to avoid disagreement between teams and stop them purely focusing on their own individual interests.

"What I've always felt in F1 is that short-term fixes – unless there's something that's so obvious that there can be no argument – create the most friction," Brawn said.

"Short-term changes almost inevitably favour one team over another, and that provokes hostility.

"If you're talking about something that's going to happen in three years' time, there's more balance because teams know they can respond properly, and in my experience there's less resistance to those sort of initiatives.

"We're talking about the [new] engine [rules] for 2021 at the moment, and so far the discussions have been extremely constructive.

"They may get a little bit more forceful as we get closer to making a final decision, but because it's coming in three or four years' time the teams have the opportunity to create the right organisation and do a proper job.

"People naturally look at how they might be advantaged or disadvantaged by what's being proposed; well-structured, well-researched medium-to-long-term plans is our way of avoiding a war."

Brawn has been tasked by F1's new owners, Liberty Media, with drafting strategy for F1's future sporting and technical direction.

He feels F1 management taking on this responsibility will ease the burden on teams that don't have the necessary time or resources to properly focus on this type of planning.

"One of the things you have to recognise - and I know this from being on the other side of the coin - is that as a team, you don't have a lot of time or resource to devote to thinking through what would be the best solutions for the future," Brawn added.

"But in the absence of someone else thinking about that, you just fight your corner based on your experience, your knowledge, and your opinion there and then.

"We're in a position to do the research, build the models, do the analysis to understand the steps we can take to evolve the sport, always with a clear set of objectives.

"And those objectives are to improve sustainability - reducing costs and having a fairer distribution of income - and to have close racing."

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Read also :

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Facebook

Share on Twitter

Share on WhatsApp

Share on Linkedin

Share on Pinterest

Share on Viber

Previous article Vettel's Baku move "silly, not dangerous" - Ricciardo

Next article New recruits boost Sauber's technical team

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

More from

Ben Anderson



How Lauda won F1's closest ever title battle

Formula 1

Formula 1

How Lauda won F1's closest ever title battle



Testing the tiers of Porsche's motorsport ladder

Porsche

Porsche

Testing the tiers of Porsche's motorsport ladder



Track Test: Lamborghini Super Trofeo

General

General

Track Test: Lamborghini Super Trofeo

Latest news



Francesco Bagnaia: MotoGP riders not consulted over Australian GP cancellation

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Australian GP

51 min

Francesco Bagnaia: MotoGP riders not consulted over Australian GP cancellation



Toyota’s new GR GT3 to make early debut in Japan next month

Super GT

SGT Super GT 1 h

Toyota’s new GR GT3 to make early debut in Japan next month



Max Verstappen pinpoints two recurring Red Bull problems: "We should use sign language!"

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

United States GP

1 h

Max Verstappen pinpoints two recurring Red Bull problems: "We should use sign language!"



Fernando Alonso blasts driving standards of bottom half of F1 grid

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

United States GP

2 h

Fernando Alonso blasts driving standards of bottom half of F1 grid

Feature

Discover prime content



A strategic masterclass: How Kimi Antonelli put himself on the cusp of F1 title at the US GP

Formula 1

United States GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

A strategic masterclass: How Kimi Antonelli put himself on the cusp of F1 title at the US GP



How Verstappen and Antonelli were both “surprised” in United States GP qualifying

Formula 1

United States GP

By Stuart Codling

How Verstappen and Antonelli were both “surprised” in United States GP qualifying



What we learned from Friday practice at the 2026 United States GP

Formula 1

United States GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

What we learned from Friday practice at the 2026 United States GP



Max Verstappen’s words explained: Why Red Bull’s turnaround is so different this time

Formula 1

United States GP

By Ronald Vording

Max Verstappen’s words explained: Why Red Bull’s turnaround is so different this time

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts

Subscribe