Brawn fails in bid for a qualifying sprint race

FORMULA ONE bosses have been forced to abandon their controversial plans to stage reverse-grid qualifying races next season. The experiment would have seen the Saturday qualifying replaced with a sprint race, in which drivers lined up in reverse championship order, with the leading driver starting at the back. The result would have determined the grid for

Sunday’s grand prix. The idea was dreamt up by F1’s managing director Ross Brawn (left) but a number of drivers, led by Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, criticised the scheme. And now two teams — believed to be Mercedes and Ferrari — have voted against it. ‘The current governance system means we need unanimity to carry any decisions through to next year,’ said Brawn, the former Ferrari technical director and boss of his own championship-winning team, Brawn GP, which has evolved into Mercedes. ‘The teams initially said they would agree with it and then two teams put their hand up at the last meeting and said they wouldn’t. We were just asking for the opportunity for three races to try the format. If it didn’t work, we’d put our hands up. If it did work, great. If it’s something in between, we could have worked with that just to help us develop the format of racing, and it’s frustrating that we’ve not been able to do so.’ Vettel had been the most outspoken detractor, saying: ‘It’s complete bull **** . I don’t know which genius came up with that. ‘It is not the solution. It is completely the wrong idea.’ Liberty, the sport’s owners, are due to unveil the regulations for 2021 later this week.