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Brawn attentive over calendar expansion

Published on 28 Jan 2017 12:58
7
By: Fergal Walsh

Ross Brawn has admitted that he is wary over the possibility of expanding the number of races on the Formula One calendar. Brawn, now Managing Director of Motorsports, says Liberty Media must balance "quality and quantity".

F1's new owners have previously proposed the idea of adding more races to the calendar, keeping with a common theme developing in recent years. The F1 calendar has grown massively in the last number of seasons with 2016 hosting a record breaking 21 Grand Prix.

"They [Liberty] asked me what I thought was the maximum number of races, and first of all I said we've got to balance quality and quantity," Brawn told ESPN.

"We've got to make sure we don't just have races because we can increase the number, the races have to be of good quality, in good places and in exciting places. We also need to think about the frequency of races because the nice balance of a race every other weekend is perfect."

Brawn says that is it is very possible that more races could be added, but teams would have to adapt to the profuse pressure and workload.

"There is a point where you need to join in with the teams to help them and support the extra number of races," he said. "Because 20 or 21 is pretty tough on the crews and tough on the engineers, tough on everyone who travels.

"But if you then set yourself up with two sets of crews and two sets of engineers and all the rest of it, which I believe is what NASCAR does, then you can do it.

"There is absolutely no reason why we shouldn't have more races, but you can't have more races with the same structure that teams have now, because it would just break it."

Fergal Walsh

f1fan0101

Posts: 1,804

Yeah, 18-21 is fine, but any after that is danger territory

1
Jan 28 2017 - 18:10

F1 News

Replies (7)

f1fan0101

Posts: 1,804
I think 18/19 races per season is optimal
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- Jan 28 2017 - 13:41
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  I'd say the current amount of races is nice, though more would probably not be good.
  + 0
  
  Jan 28 2017 - 15:15
- f1fan0101
  
  Posts: 1,804
  Yeah, 18-21 is fine, but any after that is danger territory
  + 1
  
  Jan 28 2017 - 18:10
Barron

Posts: 625
Before looking at expansion perhaps they should first focus on keeping the existing tracks viable for an F1 appearance. One way might be to feature 2 races per weekend at certain tracks. First though, they would have to modify the restrictive 4 engine rule.
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- Jan 28 2017 - 16:35
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  I dont think the 2 races per track weekend sound very good. There isnt really anything wrong with the current weekend setup in my opinion, they just need to make it more showy, and most of all make the show match the ticket price. I dont like the current 4 unit per driver formula either, but its there to cut costs for smaller teams, so it might be necessary to have it in place. That is basically the only way they've been able to cut costs, since Ferrari has vetoed every other option.
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  Jan 29 2017 - 08:59
Vet5

Posts: 225
The number 1 step should be to bring in new teams, would be awesome to see BMW, Toyota etc join the sport again. I'm one for scrapping the hybrid rules only because F1 shouldnt be a testing ground for road cars and i think thats why we havent seen new teams come in and old teams die i.e. Lotus & Manor, far too expensive now!
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- Jan 30 2017 - 08:43
Major Tom

Posts: 152
I think 18 to 20 is probably optimum.
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- Jan 30 2017 - 19:22