Brawn plays down 'boring' complaints after Canada

Formula 1's director of motorsports Ross Brawn has played down complaints that last weekend's Canadian Grand Prix was 'boring.'

"The championship battle is really exciting this year," Brawn said. "But it's true that in Montreal, as in Monaco, qualifying was probably more exciting than the race.

"That's predictable in the streets of the Principality," he commented. "But it's not what you expect at the Notre-Dame Island circuit."

The Monaco race was described by Fernando Alonso as "the most boring Formula 1 race ever". Lewis Hamilton called for a review of the Monaco track layout to shake things up.

But last weekend's race suggested that the problem is not merely track-specific. Brawn pointed out that in the past, the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve "has usually provided some very exciting racing with the winner in doubt until the end."

That certainly wasn't the case this year, with Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari leading from the start and never under threat for the whole afternoon.

Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas was also looking secure in second place after fending off Red Bull's Max Verstappen into the first corner.

• Hamilton suggests a change of layout for 'boring' Monaco

But Brawn said that having some races prove less exciting than others was no different from any other sport, such as football.

"I'm a football fan," he said. "I too have seen games between top teams end in a dull goalless draw, and there will probably be some like that in the forthcoming World Cup."

However Brawn acknowledged the need to ensure Formula 1 delivered each and every week.

"What we must do is ensure that Formula 1 can provide spectacular and unpredictable racing," he said.

"That has to come from a more level playing field.

"Again in Canada, only the six cars from the top teams finished the race on the lead lap, with Renault's Nico Hulkenberg best of the rest [but] a lap down.

"That's already happened elsewhere this year and that's not good for the sport.

"It's true that these things happen in football too," he noted. "But to stick with the comparison, in football, you do get the fairytale scenarios such as Leicester winning the 2016 English Premier League. Or Les Herbiers being finalists in the French Cup this year.

"The next era of Formula One must be able to deliver feats such as these," he said. "That doesn't mean lowering the standards, quite the contrary.

"It means ensuring that talent and ingenuity should be the major factor in deciding who wins rather than just the size of budget."

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