Toto Wolff seethes over Ross Brawn's latest push for "freak" reverse grid races

Formula 1

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Wolff seethes over Brawn's latest push for "freak" reverse grid races

Mercedes motorsport boss voted against the idea before this season

Ian Parkes

Saturday 12 September 2020 18:51

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Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff has heavily criticised Ross Brawn's latest push to introduce reverse-grid races into Formula 1.

F1's managing director motorsports was captivated by Sunday's Italian Grand Prix following the restart to the race after the red-flag period.

What followed hinted as to how a reverse-grid event could work given Lewis Hamilton's fight through the pack following a penalty.

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Brawn said the concept was "still something we and the FIA want to work through in the coming months and discuss with the teams for next year".

F1 was unable to implement a plan for reverse-grid races at certain events for this season as it did not gain the unanimous support that was required, notably as Wolff voted against.

When suggested to Wolff the idea was set to return to the debating table for next season, the Austrian made clear he was far from happy.

"I have a better idea - to do a reverse grid in alphabetical order of team names, and then we would change our name to AMG!" joked Wolff initially.

He then added: "I don't think we should mess with any of the format. We see racing series that have tried to change format that has historically been understood by the fans - NASCAR and the Chase [for the Sprint Cup] comes to mind.

"I don't think we should be messing around, and this is not because I have a Mercedes bias, on the contrary. I like the variability and unpredictability, and we will have races that will be very different such as the Monza race.

"But nobody wants a winner that has started from a reverse grid. I don't think we should be designing freak results where it is almost to overtake just because we believe the pecking order should be a different one."

Again insisting F1 "is a meritocracy, a sport where best man and best machine wins", he added: "This is not worldwide wrestling where the outcome is completely random.

"If you want to do random, let's make it a show. But the core DNA of a sport is being a sport, and then an entertainment platform, but it's not a show, not a reality, and it's not Big Brother, and I don't think we should be going there."

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