Brawn: R&D token system justified by McLaren engine change

Formula 1 director of motorsport Ross Brawn says the introduction of F1's development token system for 2020 and 2021 was in large part justified by McLaren's engine change for next year.

To rein in costs and help mitigate the effects of the sport's economic downturn, F1 has implemented a freeze on chassis development for the current campaign and next season.

However, teams will be allowed a minimum amount of fundamental changes based on two tokens that can be exploited in agreement with the FIA.

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Because the freeze rule was introduced at such short notice, the token system is necessary to provide teams with a degree of development flexibility.

"When you give somebody five years and tell them this is going to be the situation then you can be fairly specific about what you're going to do," Brawn told Motorsport.com.

"When you tell them with a few weeks' notice, then you've got to be flexible in terms of how you apply it."

But the scheme was also born out of McLaren's particular case according to F1's sporting boss.

"The problem with the freeze was that we had a team that was changing an engine, McLaren," explained Brawn.

"You can't ignore that, you can't say that you can't change your engine. So we had to find a fair system that was going to accommodate their need to make the change.

"We also recognise that some teams may have a flaw in their car that they shouldn't have to live with for two years.

"The token system allows them just that little bit of scope to put right what they had wrong."

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