MARCH 16, 2017

Budget caps a possibility for F1 says Brawn

Ross Brawn has admitted that tweaks to the commercial arrangements inside F1 could be a key to a strong future for the sport.

Ross Brawn has admitted that tweaks to the commercial arrangements inside F1 could be a key to a strong future for the sport.

Currently, one assessment of the situation in pitlane is that running a team is near-impossible for a privateer, not only financially but in terms of being competitive.

"You are right," Brawn, F1's new sporting chief in the post-Bernie Ecclestone era, told the French magazine Auto Hebdo.

"What is required is complex and that's why it's important not to rush."

Another reason not to rush is that F1's existing, Ecclestone-negotiated contracts do not expire until 2020.

Brawn said: "First we need to create the right foundations, and then we build on them. By good foundations, I mean less difference between the top and the bottom of the grid.

"The real question is 'What do we need to focus on to move in another direction in the future?' Resource dependence is one of the areas we need to explore.

"Should we move towards a capped budget or a series of technical constraints? Perhaps a combination of both?

"But we need to reduce the importance of money in the performance of the cars, because this is the current direction in F1. What we want is to try to raise the overall level of the grid without resorting to the artificial," Brawn added.

(GMM)