Brawn joined F1 as managing director of motor sports with the Liberty Media takeover of the sport, and has shared his thoughts on some of the features of this year’s cars.
2017 has brought with it the return of the shark fin engine covers last seen back in 2010, which has seemingly split opinion with fans – Brawn doesn’t like them at all.
Plus, Mercedes and other teams have opted for extra wings, either on top of the shark fin or – in the case of the Silver Arrows – an additional standalone wing in front of the rear wing.
The cars look so much better this year, but the shark fin and T-Wing designs take them down a mark or two. Brawn said in a video with the Formula 1 website:
“With the new cars and new rules, we have to see how they perform and what effect that has. 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.
“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.”
Here’s what he added when asked about the T-Wing:
“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, stability [of regulations] is important, so there won’t be any major changes there.”