F1 chief Ross Brawn has opened up about diversity within the sport as he talks about independent teams in the context of Williams.
A few short weeks ago, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton used his platform to vocalize his feelings about those in his industry – especially F1 – that remained silent when such things as the death of Minneapolis resident George Floyd occur.
The Englishman criticized his peers and the community as a whole for their lack of acknowledgement of recent racial events. Within minutes, it became clear that Hamilton’s message had struck a cord, and almost all of the biggest figures in motorsport wrote notes publicly disavowing such occurrences.
F1 even put out an official statement to the same tune, and, more recently, the series’ CEO backed Hamilton’s message when talking to Sky Sports. Brawn touched on the diversity the sport has and steps taken by them keeping inclusiveness in mind.
“Lewis is a great ambassador for the sport, and I think his comments are very valid. We support him completely,” started Brawn. “We as F1 have recognised for a few years now that we want to strengthen our diversity programme and both internally as a company and externally, we started work on this a few years ago.
“Our thoughts were that the reason why we don’t have more diversity in Formula 1 starts at grassroots level, it even starts in schools with the appeal for STEM topics – science, technology, engineering and maths. How can we get involved in that?
“We’ve been involved in F1 in Schools, we have always supported it, but we became far more involved in the last year or two, and that has a very strong diversity in terms of the kids who get involved in it.
“Forty per cent of the kids who get involved in F1 in Schools are girls, so that’s a good start. It’s an international competition, so we get competitors from all groups. We are looking very strongly at how we can support grassroots racing.
“I’ve spent the last weeks and months working with a group to look at how we can have a basic karting initiative to get kids involved in karting at a very early stage. F1 is a very strong meritocracy, it should always be that way. It should always be the best who win.
“We can’t force that but we can give greater opportunity to minority and ethnic groups to get involved in motorsport, not just driving but engineering and other activities. That’s where we are with Formula 1.
“We support totally what Lewis has said. What happened was dreadful, it happens far too often. You’ve seen the public reaction to it. It’s almost the straw that broke the camel’s back and we support him totally,” summed up Brawn.
In the in-depth interview, Brawn also discussed the new rules, and the weight they will carry, with an emphasis oh how they’ll affect independent F1 teams, who have historically been outdone by big-budget teams, or manufacturer outfits.
There have been modifications made to the distribution of funds, the introduction of a budget cap, and more – all of which benefit the ‘little guys’ of the paddock in a bid to ensure their survival in these trying times of economic volatility.
“This is a problem we’ve been tackling on many fronts,” said Brawn. “And, one of them is prize money. Previously, the prize money was very heavily biased towards the top teams. As of next year, the mid-field teams will be getting a much bigger slice of the pie.
“That will make a good mid-field team financially sustainable with a modest amount of sponsorship. With the budget cap and the prize money, suddenly you’ve got a much more viable case for a good mid-field team to be economically viable and sustainable.”
For one independent, however, the rule changes simply didn’t come soon enough, which is Williams, who have offered up at least some of their company for sale, after a terrible last few years, and sponsorship woes.
Speaking on the topic, Brawn expressed disappointment, even if it was predictable, and, in a sense, deserved, given that a historic name shouldn’t safeguard a team from such troubles when performance isn’t up to standard.
“It is very disappointing, but I think probably if you look at it, and you look at the performance of Williams, it – by their own admission – has been very poor for the last few years,” said Brawn. “I think when you continue at that level, you’re gonna suffer.
“It would almost be wrong if you didn’t suffer when you perform that level. I think it’s the consequence of very poor performance for the last few years. Even with a team with the heritage and name of Williams, if you don’t perform, you’re gonna have problems.
“I believe that there will be a way forward for Williams, particularly with all the things we’ve done. We’ve that model far more sustainable, and I’m optimistic that we can find ways of keeping Williams in the sport,” he summed up.
As for the 2020 F1 season, Brawn spoke on the expansion of the calendar to include flyaway races – something that is proving difficult, even though he is optimistic they can work around the problems they are having.
The Brit also commended the teams on their collaboration over the last few months, and on the topic of politics, reflected on advice he gave Toto Wolff many moons ago – this being advice he doesn’t regret giving, despite Mercedes’ reign of dominance.
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