Brawn open to experimenting with F1 race format in 2020

Formula 1 sporting chief Ross Brawn is open to experimenting with the race format and says the 2020 season will provide a “good opportunity” to “try some variations”.

While negotiations over the future landscape of the championship’s sporting and technical regulations continue ahead of 2021, F1 is considering new ways to spice up the show and improve the quality of racing.

Speaking to Sky Sports F1 ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, Brawn said he is keen to take advantage of stable regulations in 2020 to trail some new race format ideas at certain races.

“I’d like to see in ’20 for us to try a few things,” Brawn explained.

“I think in ’20 we’ve got a stable platform in terms of the cars, things aren’t changing that much and I think that ’20 could be a good opportunity perhaps for one or two races to try some variations.

“I don’t see any other way that we logically progress the race format. I think the basic race format is good but would a sprint race be interesting, or would some changes to qualifying be interesting.

“I think the teams are up for doing some variations during a Saturday to see if we can touch on a better solution.”

With cost-cutting at the forefront of the next set of regulations, Brawn has backed calls to shorten F1 weekends to lessen the operational strain currently faced by teams amid an expanding calendar.

“We want the cars to run on a Friday but is there a way of shortening the weekend from an operational point of view for the teams, because they all turn up on a Tuesday, or even a Monday to get ready,” he said.

“If we could restrict that, had a tighter parc ferme and controlled the time that a team was at the circuit, then we could shorten the operational weekend for them and turn it into a three-day weekend.

“We remember when you would turn up on a Thursday afternoon and everyone would get there, put the cars in the garage, and go racing. Now they turn up two or three days earlier because they want to get everything ready.

“I think Fridays are important for the promoters, it starts the weekend off but could we have two sessions on a Friday afternoon for instance? Maybe slightly shorter sessions, and then that means the teams can prepare on a Friday morning.”