MADRID, 28 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The British Ross Brawn, sports director of the Formula 1 World Cup, a position that he will leave in 2023, is satisfied with what has been seen in the 2022 season and hopes that it will help so that “some of the other teams challenging” Red can soon be seen Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes.
“I hope that in the coming seasons we will see some of the other teams challenging the top three, that would be the icing on the cake and would make F-1 even more exciting,” Ross Brawn said in his weekly column on the F1 website. World.
The Briton believes that the Dutchman Max Verstappen (Red Bull) “consolidated his status as world champion” and that his team repeated another “great performance”, while he congratulated Ferrari for taking “another step” and for “progress and a solid performance”. “Second place in both championships is a good platform to build on for next year,” he warned.
Instead, he believes that once-dominant Mercedes “had a peculiar year” and was “challenged to get the best” out of its car. “But their drivers never gave up. I know their people and they are going to come back strong next year,” said the Briton, who celebrated having seen “some great races during the season.”
“From my perspective, the wonderful thing was some close races and more entertainment. Seeing much better races this year was a real reward for me,” added Brawn, who is also clear that imposing a salary cap on teams causes them to “win smarter people” and that “the front-to-back margins are going to be much narrower.
For this reason, he sees this measure as “a very significant step for F-1”, although he does not hide that “he has errors to solve”. “But considering the complexity of introducing such a system, it’s fantastic what the F1 team and the FIA have achieved since it was introduced last year,” he celebrated.
Regarding sports regulations, he indicated that they had “an open mind” to improve on weekends, defending the three qualifying rounds because “it is exciting” and stressing that the Sprint format, which will go to six races in 2023, “seems to have worked “. “Some argue that we should have him at every race, we’ll see if that evolves. He’s certainly fired up all weekend and gives us three full days of action,” he underlined.
He also recognized the importance of the “big change” brought about by the new technical regulations. “The priority was to build a better car because that had never been a priority in the past, which was one of my frustrations,” he said.
“My time with F-1 is coming to an end. I will miss the involvement I have had, the camaraderie and the friendship that is achieved in their environment. I am satisfied with where we have arrived. I think there has been a change real in the last six years since I joined the management team and I’m happy about that. F1 today is as strong as ever,” said Brawn, who ends his tenure as F1 sporting director .
In this sense, the British admitted that Liberty, owner of the World Cup, “knew about the economics of F1, but not much about F-1 as a sport”, but that it was “smart enough to put Chase Carey in charge “. “Despite not being a seasoned F-1 veteran, he grasped the business and the sport quickly,” he added.
“Liberty approached me as someone with F1 experience, something they needed at the beginning. I was interested, but only if we could approach the development of the sport from a different perspective and I think we’ve succeeded. We’ve built a great team and I am very satisfied with what we have achieved. We have set F-1 on a new path,” Brawn stressed.
Therefore, he considers that “now is the right time” to quit. “We’ve done most of the work and now we’re in a period of consolidation. There’s a new car coming in 2026, but it’s four years away, which is pretty far for me, so it’s better that the next group of people take on that challenge. I think that I am leaving the F-1 in a great place”, sentenced.