Formula 1 chief Ross Brawn believes reducing the amount of data available to teams should be put under consideration, following the exciting nature of the United States Grand Prix.
Formula 1 teams were short on representative data at Austin, with Friday’s three hours of practice taking place in wet conditions, while temperatures on Saturday were far cooler than in the race.
Kimi Raikkonen, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton adopted different tyre strategies to reach the podium places, with their varying approaches leading to a pulsating and tense race.
Brawn has suggested that cutting back on data, therefore leading to more unknowns, could prove beneficial to the on-track product.
“The three drivers on the podium crossed the line within the same three seconds,” said Brawn.
“They all ran different tyre strategies, through choice in the case of Räikkönen and Hamilton and by necessity for Verstappen who started from the penultimate row of the grid.
“That’s unusual in Formula 1, where the level of sophistication in terms of simulation and strategy is so high that one doesn’t usually get such a variance, especially when it involves the top three teams.
“This was probably down to the fact that no one had been able to run dry weather tyres on Friday as the track was wet throughout the three hours of practice.
“That meant the teams had less data than usual on which to base their race plans, and thus the margin for error increased.
“To use a football metaphor, when two teams play perfectly, a nil-all draw is the logical conclusion.
“In Formula 1, when the simulations are all worked out to the smallest detail, then they all converge towards the same best possible strategy.
“So does less data produce a better show? It’s definitely more uncertain and therefore another topic for discussion when looking at ways to make our sport even more exciting.”
Brawn also went on to praise Raikkonen for ending his five-year win drought.
“With only three more races to go until the end of his second stint at Ferrari, Kimi has put the icing on the cake, towards the end of what has been a very strong season; definitely his best in recent years,” he said.
“He really deserves the success, because he has always been unstintingly professional and a true team player.”
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