F1's boom and good health down to current owners, says managing director Ross Brawn

Ross Brawn, Managing Director of F1's sporting side, recently praised Liberty Media, the owners of the F1 group, for the sport's booming popularity.

Since Liberty Media took over the sport, it has gained a lot of popularity, especially in the USA. Moreover, the racing aspect of the sport has also improved quite a lot since the regulation changes in 2022.

Speaking to Motorsport.com, Ross Brawn explained the mindset of the new owners and how they wanted to improve the sport's fundamentals, rather than focusing on increasing the margins. He said:

"I think Liberty have done a great job. I would say this, but they employed me! And while I say that, they recognised that they wanted to improve the sport."

Brawn further explained:

"They didn’t just come in and say ‘how can we improve the margins?’ Their mindset was: ‘There’s this great sport, how can we take the sport forwards? Because the rewards will come when we take the sport forward, not by squeezing more juice out of the lemon.’ And Greg [Maffei] and Chase [Carey] had that vision. And, luckily, I had the opportunity to be involved."

Ross Brawn also spoke about the amount of money that has been invested to bring the best out of the sport. He and his team received a massive budget to rework and improve the racing aspect of the sport.

The outcome was a success as the new regulations drastically improved racing in the 2022 F1 season as drivers were able to easily follow each other. He said:

“Therefore I think Liberty have taken a great approach. Certainly, if you look at the history of owners in Formula 1, they’re the only ones that I’ve seen do it – and I’ve been here quite a long time. If you look back, I can’t think of many owners that put that sort of investment into the sport. I won’t tell you my budget, but it was a substantial budget to do that work we did. And that’s a commitment, which is paying off now.”

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FIA could reduce DRS zones on F1 tracks

Speaking to Motorsport.com, Ross Brawn spoke about the DRS zone and how its length should be reduced on certain tracks.

After the 2022 F1 season, it was noted that the DRS zones were making overtaking a bit too easy. Hence, this change is being discussed by the FIA and F1. Brawn said:

“I think we shouldn’t be afraid to reduce the DRS in places like Monza, because it does seem a bit ‘you get on the back of them, press the button, overtake.’ It’s a bit ritualistic, isn’t it? It’s not very impressive. And so we shouldn’t be afraid to reduce the use of DRS where it's clearly proving to be too powerful.”

DRS (Drag Reduction System) is a special feature in F1 cars that drivers can activate to reduce drag and increase their speed. This system can only be activated when drivers are less than a second behind another driver and are in the DRS zone on a track.