F1
Laurence Edmondson, F1 Editor 6y

Brawn: New teams after 2021 will be a measure of F1's success

Formula 1

Formula One's motorsport director Ross Brawn hopes changes to the regulations for 2021 will encourage new teams to enter the sport.

Brawn was employed by F1's new owners, Liberty Media, at the start of 2017 to improve the on-track spectacle at grands prix. Together with a group of technical experts plucked from F1 teams, Brawn has started a research project to help shape the new regulations as well as looking to revolutionise the way money influences performance.

Among the key ideas behind the 2021 regulations are affordable engines, a cost cap and a more equal distribution of the sport's revenues between the teams. If those goals are achieved, Brawn is hopeful new teams will enter the sport with a realistic chance of challenging for victories.

"That would be another measure of success," he told F1 Fan Voice. "Quite frankly, I can't see a new team coming in today because the revenue distribution and commercial distribution of funds and the technical regulations are too daunting. We want to create an environment where there is a queue of professional organisations wanting to own and be a Formula One team.

"We have always had this margin of teams at the bottom of Formula One that are hanging on with their finger nails, and often falling, and we want quality competitors, not just people making up the numbers and saying they are in Formula One if they can't step up. So we want the professional, well-financed, well-structured teams to be entering Formula One in the future and that will be a measure of our success.

"But they won't come in today. I hope we can create the environment by then that makes it more appealing."

However, Brawn and his team face a balancing act in enticing new entrants while keeping the existing big manufacturers happy. Engines is one key political battle ground that has been fought over in the last year, and the sport has already missed its self-imposed deadline of the end of June to sign off on a detailed set of regulations.

F1 wants to retain the existing 1.6-litre, V6 engine architecture in 2021, but with a number of significant changes to reduce costs, boost power and improve the noise. Chief among those proposed changes was the removal of the MGU-H -- the part of the hybrid system that recovers energy from the turbo -- because it is too complicated and expensive for new manufacturers to develop. The plan also permitted an increase in the fuel allowance so that the engines can rev to 18,000rpm, making them sound better, while an uprated MGU-K was tabled to ensure they remained both powerful and road relevant.

The MGU-H, which has been a sticking point throughout negotiations, still appears to be a point of contention, with Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff recently saying that its removal would incur huge costs as existing manufacturers would have to develop both the current power unit and a new one without an MGU-H in tandem. But Brawn is confident there has been a convergence of opinion on the 2021 regulations and that the teams recognise the need to leave the rule making to F1 and the FIA.

"I don't have any major concerns, but we respect the teams," he said. "They are putting a huge investment and a huge effort into Formula One, so we have to respect them.

"We have to respect their opinions and we have to respect their involvement. I think those teams will also say they know Formula One needs some direction from ourselves and the FIA. You see it in their relationships between the teams and you will see there are periods when some teams are aligned and some periods when they are not aligned and that will be to do with the on-track action or other things that are going on.

"I know as a team I was not always in the best place to know what is best for Formula One because I was always absorbed in my own objectives and ambitions within the team. Formula One needs the commercial rights holder and the FIA to encourage the teams to come with us and I think they recognise that as well.

"They are part of the process, there are plenty of meetings going on and lots of discussion going on. They are engaged and I have to say in the last few weeks and months that I have got a lot more comfortable that we are all going to hold hands together and go through this process."

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