F1 see "no negatives" of new era as "horrible" cars a thing of the past

Ross Brawn at the Bahrain Grand Prix — Photo: © LAT Images

F1 2022

F1 see "no negatives" of new era as "horrible" cars a thing of the past

Ross Brawn delighted with 'cars that can race'

Ian Parkes

Monday 21 March 2022 15:20

Ross Brawn believes the "horrible" F1 cars of old are now a thing of the past after the sport ushered in its new 'raceable' era in Bahrain.

The culmination of years of work by F1 to deliver a more exciting product to the fans, teams and drivers was formally unveiled at the Bahrain International Circuit, and the sport's managing director, motorsports could see "no negatives".

Although only "a sample base of one", as Brawn rightly pointed out, he feels there was enough evidence to suggest the moves made a few years back, and the work over the intervening period was worth the effort which will continue.

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"Let’s not get ahead of ourselves but we’ve seen no negatives, which is a great thing," said Brawn.

“Once the drivers have debriefed and the FIA has started to look at all the data, we can see how far we’ve been able to move.

“The old cars were horrible so we’ve been able to take that step. We’ve shown the raceability of the car has to be a strong consideration going forward.

“It’s not just one solution and we’re going to stop. We need to keep up this process. We need to keep working and understanding on how we can make great racing cars and continue the development in that direction.”

New F1 cars aided by budget cap - Brawn

Brawn had previously forecast there would be an initial spread of the teams given their interpretations of the new aerodynamic regulations before a later convergence.

Dismissing early concerns over that spread, he added: "It looks to me like two or three teams have not got it right but it wasn’t that bad.

“As always, if we get two or three teams at the front racing hard and a strong midfield, then I think we should be pleased. And if those cars can race, that’s the key thing.

"Adding that dimension of working on the car’s raceability is going to make a difference."

Brawn feels the budget cap for this year, set at $140million, will also play a major role in ensuring no team can run away from the field.

“You can’t forget what impact the cost cap is going to have because no one out there at the moment is going to be able to put another hundred million into their programme to solve their problems," asserted Brawn.

“That’s going to have a flatter development rate this year, so no one is going to pull away. A lot of things have come together that we can look forward to a great year.”