Brawn: F1 changed philosophy to put fans first

Ross Brawn believes the biggest change in approach for the management of Formula 1 since Liberty Media's takeover has been the decision to put fans first in a bid to grow the sport.

Ex-Benetton, Ferrari and Mercedes technical chief Brawn returned to F1 last January as its new sporting managing director following the completion of Liberty's takeover and the exit of long-term CEO Bernie Ecclestone.

Liberty is working hard to set out its plans for the future of F1, with Brawn saying that while the changes will take time to introduce, the fan is at the very centre of any decision being taken, contrary to the approach of the previous regime.

"I think what has changed is the philosophy. The philosophy now is that the fan comes first and we want to produce the greatest spectacle in sport in the world," Brawn told Business Life magazine.

"But it will take time to establish all the information we need, to do all the analysis and then start to complement changes that we believe will make the sport greater. That's a two, three, even five-year cycle."

Brawn also explained how F1 bosses are now looking to be less reactive and trigger-happy in decision-making, instead taking time to make more considered moves.

"There was a tendency for there to be a very reactive style. There'd be a drama or a problem and everyone would get together to try and solve it," Brawn said.

"But that's not how you'd run a team, for instance. You'd run a team by trying to forward plan, trying to evolve, trying to develop, making evidence-based decisions.

"I always felt that F1 had never really evolved or developed around those principles, and I sat there at home watching F1 thinking that there was a better way of the sport evolving."