Brawn: Cost cuts without dumbing down F1

Ross Brawn reckons Formula 1 must find ways to reduce the costs of competing, but must do so without dumbing down the sport.

F1’s sporting boss, a long-time supporter of cost cuts, concedes that there several things that Formula 1 needs to change in order to appeal to a wider market.

One of those is more competition, something that many feel could be achieved by cutting costs as it would put the smaller teams on a more level playing field.

And while Brawn supports that notion, he insists it must be achieved without dumbing down F1.

“It is a circular process,” Brawn told Autosport.

“To have a discussion about remuneration with the teams is difficult if you don’t present both sides.

“We’ve got to present how we see the sport going forward in terms of the investment that the teams make, because it’s substantial.

“I think it’s fair to say that there’s not a team in F1 that wouldn’t welcome a reduction in costs.

“One thing I’d like to say is that we don’t want to dumb F1 down. F1 still has to be aspirational for the teams.

“We don’t want all the teams to be exactly the same, in the respect that there should still be the aspirational teams, there should still be the Ferraris, the Mercedes, the Red Bulls that teams want to aspire to beat.

“But we don’t want domination. We need an environment where a team that does a really good job can do well.

“We don’t want a situation where financial power enables a team to get a dominant position, as has happened in the last few years.”