04/03/2017
NEWS STORY
While Jacque Villeneuve may blame the fans for the introduction of DRS, Ross Brawn - himself pretty much a purist - like the fans realises that while we want to see wheel to wheel battling and daredevil overtaking, we do not want it to be courtesy of blatantly artificial devises such as the infamous Drag Reduction System.
Attending this week's test at Barcelona, Brawn - who is now allowed to enter any of the garages without setting off alarms - got a close up look at the cars of 2017 and as a result has admitted that he is not only looking to get rid of DRS, eventually, but also the horrendous dorsal fins that have reappeared this season seriously compromising the aesthetics of the cars.
While debate rages over whether the new rules will increase overtaking or make it more difficult, Brawn is looking ahead as Liberty targets where it wants the sport to be in five years' time. The Briton believes that in order to excite and entertain existing fans, as well as attracting new fans, it must maintain some purity.
"With the new cars and new rules, we have to see how they perform and what effect that has," he told the official F1 website of the new look for 2017. "As a racing car, it looks more exciting. The proportions of the car are better. They're much faster; pretty impressive performance. Drivers tell me they are physically challenging, which is what was wanted.
"As always with new regulations, there are few little hiccups," he admits. We've got the unpopular shark's fin on the back. In time, I think we need to address those. Part of the objective of the new rules was to produce more exciting-looking cars, so we don't want to spoil it with peripheral bits that take away from that. But that's normal with new regs."
Asked about the T-wings, which by the second day of testing, were already beginning the sport second elements, he said: "Those are all the consequences of new regulations, and not intended. So unintended consequences, over time, we need to iron out. And get the things looking a bit more pure."
"We also need to see, once the season starts with the tyres and rules we have now, how well the drivers can compete with each other. That's an important element as well, and it's an open point at the moment. From the car perspective, rule stability is important, so there won't be any major changes there."
The Briton, who now refers to himself as a poacher turned gamekeeper, won titles with Benetton and Ferrari before achieving glory with a car bearing his own name in 2009, admits the overtaking is a major concern. And who bet
"We have to look at the whole topic of overtaking in racing, and how the cars can follow and overtake each other," he said, ironic coming from the man who gave F1 the double diffuser. "I would prefer that to be achieved by a normal process, rather than enhanced by something like DRS.
"DRS was a solution to a problem we had at the time. I don't think we should rush into taking DRS off," he said, "but what I'd like to see is a better long-term solution to car design so we don't need it."
Looking ahead, he said: "What I'd like to see in the future, where we want to play a part, is making sure the objectives are very clearly defined. If you're going to make a regulation change, what's the objective? And then it's making sure we're finding a process where those objectives are sure to be achieved.
"Within FOM, we're going to have our own capacity to judge these things. Our small, specialist group of engineers will participate with the teams and help make sure we achieve those objectives; have a better process behind the regulations."