Brawn in race to put his sport back on right track

Managing director calls for faster cars and spectacular action to produce grands prix worthy of the name, and tells they must listen to the fans

The twinkling temple of neon that is Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina presents a vivid illustration of Formula One’s faultlines. Every way you turn, there are pretty people, even prettier yachts and, at the centre of it all, an irredeemably Mickey Mouse racetrack. Anybody imagining that the 2017 duel between Mercedes and Ferrari had been a panacea for the sport’s ills was disabused by a finale so turgid that Martin Brundle apologised for the spectacle live on air.

For all the parade of Lamborghinis past the Yas Viceroy hotel, and all the nouveau riche extravagance fuelling Abu Dhabi’s claims to be the ‘Monaco of the Middle East’, competitive racing was again conspicuous by its absence. The two Mercedes cars finished 20 seconds up the road, while the most diverting skirmish was a pass by Romain Grosjean on Lance Stroll – for 13th. It was a sign of the paucity of wheel-to-wheel action last year that Fernando Alonso, a debutant in the Indianapolis 500, sparked one of the major storylines through his exploits in a different sport.

“We have created cars that can’t race each other,” says Ross Brawn, F1’s managing director of motorsports, at his office in London’s St James’s Market. “The only requirement we have for 2018 is that we want the cars to be faster, more spectacular. We want cars with high-cornering forces that truly test the drivers, but we also want greatlooking cars that can follow nose to tail. The aesthetics are important, because there are video games with cars that look much better than those out on the circuit now.”

It is the one debate, even with the change in stewardship from Bernie Ecclestone to Liberty Media, that eclipses all others. How does F1 reliably ensure a race that is worth the name? The Hungarian Grand Prix last summer highlighted the predicament: Lewis Hamilton, the most gifted driver of his generation, was swarming all over the rear wing of Kimi Raikkonen throughout the final laps and yet could contrive no way past. The problem, as he has spelt out, is that the wider, sleeker, swifter cars introduced in 2017 generate such a backdraught of dirty air that it becomes near-impossible to overtake.

A solution might have to wait until 2021, when the next scheduled regulation change offers the chance for what Brawn calls a “full reset”. But the philosophy, he insists, is already shifting. “The previous way of developing the sport was ‘divide and conquer’,” he says, referring to Ecclestone’s dictatorial style. “That’s not the way we are going to go any longer. We are much more orientated towards everyone working together.” F1, however, remains a state divided.

The gulf between Mercedes and the midfield is so vast that a team such as Force India, despite achieving 18 double-points finishes last year, might as well be fighting a different competition. The chasm will be bridged only if Brawn and his brain trust can find a path to reducing the expense and complexity of the engines, which can put off prospective manufacturers.

It is ironic, in one sense, that Brawn is regarded as the person best-placed to level the field, given that his 10 years as Ferrari technical director coincided with Michael Schumacher’s crushing supremacy, but he is adamant that close grids are essential to galvanise interest.

He is passionate, too, in his view that F1, as the highest echelon of motorsport, must attract only the finest 20 drivers available.