Brawn against shortening F1 races

Ross Brawn has come out in the defense of Formula One's current race format, reaffirming that 90 minutes is the "right" length of time for a race to last for. The idea of shortening races into two separate events has been touted but Brawn feels that F1 must stick to its roots. 

Speaking to F1 Fan Voice, when asked what he wouldn't change about the sport, the length of time it takes for a race to finish was not on the list of changes he would want to make.

"I think the race distance is right. I think a one and a half hour to two hour race is right.

"I've always believed that and interestingly the more discussion we have with fans a large percentage agree.

"You watch a football game, it's a couple of hours – a major sporting event needs to have substance and I think the length of a Formula 1 race is right, but I think we need to get more action into an F1 race, but a balance.

"If soccer games were all the same then they would lose their attraction. You need a few dull games to know when a great game happens. I would like to see that in racing. There are a few races which are fairly quiet. If we have a race where Lewis Hamilton or Sebastian Vettel dominates and wins the race, you should appreciate the ability of that driver in that capacity.

"But then we'll have a race where the positions change and maybe there's a safety car and lots of things happen. But I don't think I've ever wanted to change the length of a race."

Double points were introduced in 2014 and then very quickly scrapped the same year, but Brawn alluded to another possible change in the system in the near future.

"We’re having a discussion about points system at the moment. It’s a big decision to change it. If we change it, it needs to be left alone for 10 years, we don’t want to keep messing with it."