Ross Brown: My time in Formula 1 is coming to an end

Ross Brawn was Formula 1 sporting director for six years, but he resigned at the end of the 2022 season. In a column on the championship’s official website, Ross summarized not only the season, but also his work in a leading position in Formula 1.

We’ve seen some great racing this season. Red Bull had a rocky start to the year, while Ferrari had a great start and then we saw Red Bull struggling. In my opinion, the most important thing is that we saw a tight and exciting battle on the track. This has been a real reward for me.

Max cemented his world champion status and his team did a great job. Ferrari have taken another step forward and deserve credit for the excellent work and progress they have made. Second place in the individual classification and the constructors’ championship is an excellent springboard for next season.

Mercedes had a special year – it wasn’t easy to squeeze speed out of their car, but the drivers never gave up. I know a lot of people in the team and I can say with confidence that they will come back stronger next year.

I hope we will see other teams competing against the top three in the coming seasons. This would be another icing on the cake and make Formula 1 more exciting.

Formula 1 has made progress in six years

My time in Formula 1 is coming to an end. I will miss this job and the friendship you get in the Formula 1 community. I am happy with what we have achieved. I believe that in the last six years, when I joined the leadership of the championship, real changes have taken place. Formula 1 is stronger than ever.

Liberty Media knew about the economics of Formula 1, but knew little about Formula 1 as a sport. They were smart enough to put Chase Carey in charge of the championship. Despite not coming from Formula 1, he quickly learned business and sports.

Liberty Media approached me as someone with experience in Formula 1. They needed someone like that from the start. I was interested in working on improving the racing. I believe we succeeded. We have put together an excellent team of specialists and I am satisfied with the work done. We have put Formula 1 on a new path.

Tight competition thanks to cost control

The main challenge was to understand how we can improve racing. What is needed for this? Give teams equal chances. Over the years, there were three or four teams in the championship that had more financial resources than the rest. Under such conditions it is impossible to achieve a tight fight.

The essence of Formula 1 is that all teams develop their own cars. This is a huge challenge, and in the past, the more money you have, the better car you can build. It would be possible to implement the idea of ​​a standard chassis and identical engines – then the battle on the track would be as close as possible, but in such a scenario the magic of Formula 1 would be lost.

Cost control has created an environment where the smartest wins and the competition is tight. Budget constraints are a very important step for Formula 1. There are shortcomings in this approach that need to be addressed, but given the complexity of implementing such a system, it is simply unbelievable what Formula 1, the FIA ​​and the teams have achieved. to achieve.

Sports management just got better

We have improved the management system. Now we have a lot more flexibility and we don’t need the consent of all teams to change the rules that are necessary to progress. If we get the agreement of eight teams, we will achieve short-term goals.

With the agreement of the five teams, the FIA ​​and Formula 1, we can achieve our long-term goals. We no longer have the limitations of the old management system and we have already done many things that make Formula 1 much better than before.

Weekend format change

There are many good things in Formula 1, so it was necessary to evaluate the sporting regulations with an open mind and understand how we could change the format of the race weekend. I think we have a successful qualifying format that captures the attention of the public all the time.

The Sprint was an initiative that seemed to work. Next year their number will be increased to six. I don’t know what number is optimal in the long run. Some argue that sprints should take place in every stage. Let’s see how the idea develops, but the sprint certainly revived the weekend and now we have three days of active events.

We have a group of specialists who deal with the question of how we can make the tracks as interesting as possible. That’s why we don’t have tracks where interesting races are impossible. Every existing track has been evaluated and we contribute to the creation of all new tracks to provide interesting racing.

New cars made the fight more interesting

The technical regulations have undergone major changes. We have evaluated the regulations with a fresh eye. The priority was to make the best racing car, although in the past this was not the job, which turned out to be one of my frustrations.

Previously, the teams were allowed to develop their own regulations and the FIA’s priority was safety – they made sure the speed was kept within reasonable limits. They never had the resources to evaluate how teams design a car, and even the teams with the best intentions didn’t prioritize race performance.

We set up a working group to determine the parameters that would allow the cars to drive closely behind each other and not fall apart at the slightest touch. The priority was race quality – we have changed the mindset in Formula 1 and I am very happy about that.

I watched the first race of 2022 with great excitement – and we saw three cars fighting side-by-side, which was not often the case before. Now riders can easily follow the opponent closely for several laps.

New chapter for me

I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve done over the years. I refused to be part of the Formula 1 team – I decided I had had enough! Working in the management of Formula 1 was the only thing that could get my attention. I was very lucky that Liberty Media gave me this opportunity – it was a dream job.

Now is the perfect time to retire. We’ve done a lot – now the period of consolidation has started. In 2026, the championship will move to a new generation of cars. This will happen in four years, which is quite a long time for me, so it is better that the next group takes over this work. I think I will leave Formula 1 in top form.

I have enjoyed almost every minute of my 46-year career. I’ve been lucky enough to work with a lot of great teams, riders and people. I wouldn’t change anything. One thing is for sure, without my wife and the support of my family I couldn’t have done so much and wouldn’t want to do it.

Now I’m going to watch Formula 1 from my couch, cheering and swearing like a normal Formula 1 fan, happy that the sport is in fantastic shape and has a bright future. Those are great races.