Formula 1 motorsport director Ross Brawn said the opinions of front-running drivers on sprint races matter more after George Russell called today’s event “processional”.
Brawn said the first sprint event of 2022 vindicated the decision to continue the format for another year. He believes the tyre selection turned out to be “perfect” for the 21-lap race.
“As we all know, racing drivers are racing drivers, so any thoughts they were going to take it easy for the race I don’t think this is the case,” he said.
“I think we were fortunate in the tyres were perfect for the sprint race because they started to degrade. Of course in a normal race you would have had the driver coming into the pits, changing the tyres and it would have all come down to strategy. They only had one shot in the race and the drivers had to make the tyres last.
“The interesting thing is it’s probably given Ferrari a good insight for tomorrow. So I think they’ll be stronger in the race tomorrow than what they were today.
“So we’re very pleased with the sprint race. Great entertainment, lots of racing going on, plenty of overtaking. We’ve demonstrated the cars can follow. I know you may say, well, it was DRS but you can’t use DRS unless you get on the back of the car. So I think overall it was a great success.”
However Russell, who finished out of the points in 11th, said he hadn’t enjoyed the race. “I don’t know what the rest of the race was like but it felt processional from where we were,” he said.
“The race just isn’t long enough to get some tyre degradation there and to have some big differences between the drivers and the cars.”
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Brawn said he was more concerned about what the drivers who finished in the leading positions thought of the race.
Gallery: 2022 Emilia-Romagna sprint race in pictures“Whenever my driver’s had a bad car he’s complained about the race,” he said. “So I think George’s…