F1 won't "alienate" fans with sprint qualifying - Ross Brawn

British Grand Prix

F1 won't "alienate" fans with sprint qualifying - Brawn

Sprint qualifying makes its debut at the British Grand Prix

Ian Parkes & Ewan Gale

Friday 9 July 2021 17:10

Ross Brawn has insisted F1 won't "alienate" fans with its new sprint qualifying format.

The British Grand Prix will play host to the first of three trial events where the traditional qualifying format will move to Friday night to make space for a 100km 'sprint', the classification of which will set the grid for Sunday's grand prix.

With opinion divided over the proposals, Brawn explained the sport is hoping new fans will consume the racing offered at Silverstone without removing the interest of existing viewers.

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"We are going to give the fans on a Saturday afternoon a half-hour, 40 minutes of real action that shouldn't be influenced by pit-stops," said Brawn.

"We imagine the majority of drivers will have the soft end of the tyres, depending on the track, but won't be influenced by pit stops.

"For the drivers, it will be a pretty straight contest in that respect. The teams won't have an awful lot to do with the outcome of the sprint on Saturday.

"So, it is going to be a chunk of racing that will be consumed we think, perhaps, by a different group of fans as well as being interesting and engaging for existing fans.

"Don't get me wrong we don't want to alienate any of our existing fans but we are going to offer something from which we want to see if there is a new engagement with a new group of fans.

"A half-hour, 40 minutes of racing, Saturday evening, sounds pretty exciting to me."

Brawn hoping to stop big-team advantage

In recent races, Alpine driver Fernando Alonso has criticised F1's rules for favouring bigger teams, citing the regulation that dictates drivers start on the tyres used in Q2 as one that causes disparity across the grid.

Brawn, however, stated this rule will not be in effect across the sprint weekend. He said: "We have obviously been through all the regulations to make sure we keep it as smooth as possible.

"The tyre regulations have changed so they are simpler. I do have them all written down but fundamentally, there are no pre-decisions the teams have to make.

"They are all qualifying on soft tyres, they can all go into the sprint with whatever tyres they want and they can all go into the race with whatever tyres they want.

"So, there is none of this 'I am going to get through Q2 on a medium tyre because I want to have that for the race'.

"Then you get a situation for the race where the top teams are able to run medium tyres because they are able to get through Q2 with it but the slower teams have to get through Q2 with the soft, have to start the race on the soft etcetera, so none of that complication.

"In some ways, it is more straightforward but it will have implications for the race because of the way the race weekend will evolve."