F1 should shed some "exclusivity" - Brawn

Ross Brawn has stated that he believes F1 should look at reducing its "exclusivity" with a view to integrating the fans in the sport as much as possible.

The decision of new owners Liberty Media to begin selling paddock passes to the public has been a cause for debate for some, as it has long been the domain of VIP guests and the assembled media. While Brawn admits that F1 should, to some extent, always be a "premium sport", he also indicates that this has hindered it, labelling it "not always helpful" where bringing new followers to the sport is concerned.

The sale of paddock passes is an idea that has seemingly been devised not by Brawn, but by Sean Bratches, who has been tasked with handling all commercial matters in F1.

Speaking to Germany's SID, he said: "Our challenge is to find out what makes the most sense for our brand. We want to bring Formula One to the world, but we have to do it in a well thought out way."

Brawn says that Liberty also wants to focus on reducing the performance difference between the teams at the front and rear of the grid: "We want all the teams to be able to win races if everything works out on the day, and at the moment that's quite impossible."

The success of this would depend on the teams all agreeing to the more even allocation of income, but Brawn believes that this is unlikely and that the only solution is to give each team more money.

"The piece of the cake must be less important than the size of the whole cake," he explained. "We must convince all the teams of the advantages of that for Formula One. If the sport becomes bigger, the benefit will be there for everyone."

Mason Hawker