Ross Brawn wants to improve F1 by taking inspiration from MotoGP
F1's new owners are looking to transform the Grand Prix into exceptional events. In charge of the commercial side of the sport, Ross Brawn wants to avoid calendar clashes with MotoGP.
Ross Brawn, in an interview with the news agency Reuters, explains how taking inspiration from MotoGP could be interesting to improve Formula 1. He has also met with the director of Dorna (the regulatory body of MotoGP), Carmelo Ezpeleta, to discuss areas of cooperation between the two categories.
The Briton believes that a rapprochement with the MotoGP championship is necessary. The main goal is to avoid having Grand Prix events from both camps on the same weekends. Naturally, this affects the media exposure of both disciplines.
« It is difficult to juggle with dates, and you cannot always achieve what you want. But at least we have a dialogue to try to resolve this. We are not too proud to consult other championships, to develop the best possible way! »
This season, the first two rounds of the championship thus fell on the same weekend. The same goes for six other races in the year.
Similarly, the former engineer feels that the Formula 1 championship could take inspiration from the motorcycle championship in many areas: « I think it is interesting to look at the commercial side, how they structure the teams and the agreements, and how it works for customer teams. I think that is an interesting element. »
The formula promotion system has things to learn from MotoGP: « I like the meritocracy that exists between Moto3, Moto2, and MotoGP. I like the progression they have. »
The former director of the eponymous team believes that the commercial aspect of F1 must evolve to allow teams to recruit the best drivers, free from financial constraints that force some structures to hire paying drivers: “We should have the 22 or 24 best drivers in the world in Formula 1. But there are commercial considerations that mean we can’t always achieve that,” says Brawn. He adds: “It’s a complex problem because you have to put the teams in a position where they don’t have to make these commercial decisions, they should simply make the decision based on the strongest drivers they can find.”
To complete his remarks, it is appropriate to establish the general direction in which the discipline should go, even if it won’t happen overnight. There will be no revolution in Formula 1, where suddenly we will have a big change and everything will improve. It will be a long process. Until we have the ability to fully understand the direction the sport should take, we will not change major things. It is too risky.
