F1 chief speaks to Martin Brundle in a Sky Sports F1 exclusive about why plans for reverse-grid sprint race experiments were blocked - and reveals the latest on the sport's Miami GP plans
Saturday 26 October 2019 22:59, UK
F1 managing director Ross Brawn admits he is frustrated that plans to experiment with reverse-grid qualifying races in 2020 were not agreed by the teams.
F1 had hoped to trial changes to the Saturday format at three grands prix next season, but, in a final meeting discussing the proposal, "two teams" did not back the plans.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Sky Sports F1, Brawn told Martin Brundle: "The current governance system means we need unanimity to carry any decisions through for next year.
"The teams initially said they would agree with it and then two teams put their hand up at the last meeting and said they wouldn't agree with it."
F1's current three-part knockout qualifying format has been in place since 2006 and, while considered successful and popular with fans, Brawn believes a small sample of short qualifying races would have benefitted moves to shape the sport's future.
"We wanted to try a small number of races in 2020 [with] a different format," he explained. "It was a reverse-grid format on the Saturday based on championship order and that short-format race would determine the grid order for the final race.
"So I thought it was a fascinating contest. The drivers were a little bit nervous, which I can understand, but we were just asking for the opportunity for three races to try this format.
"If it didn't work, put our hands up. If it does work, great. If there's something in between we can work with - just to help us develop the format of racing.
"It's frustrating that we've not been able to do that, but I think that, unfortunately, is a classic problem of Formula 1."
