Brawn: F1 aero handicap system won't 'distort' field

F1 chief Ross Brawn says the sport's future aero handicap system will induce "a gentle correction" to the field's competitiveness and not distort performance.

In a bid to mitigate the financial impact of the coronavirus crisis and help level the playing field in F1, teams will see their wind tunnel hours and CFD time determined by their classification in the previous year's F1 Constructors' championship.

In short, the world championship winning team will be able to exploit 90% of the allocated aero usage while the lowest finishing team will receive a 112.5% usage amount, with the team classified fifth awarded 100% aero usage.

From 2022, the restrictions will stretch from 70% to 115%.

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Brawn insists the system is good compromise between helping the smaller teams improve their performance relative to F1's top contenders and preserving a sense of "meritocracy" in the sport.

"I’m pleased with it, because I think it’s a gentle correction," Brawn told Motorsport.com.

"It still maintains the meritocracy, you’ve still got to go out on the track and win the race.

"We’re not doing anything to handicap the driver when he’s out on the track – it’s not success ballast.

"It’s rather like the NFL with the draft, where the least successful teams get the greatest opportunity initially, but they still have to deliver. It’s not like they have points given to them.

"I think it’s an opportunity and an encouragement for the smaller teams. If you consider the very real situation of somebody investing in Williams, Williams can now quite legitimately say we have this opportunity in the future to get off the back of the grid.

"That’s a nice incentive. I think it will have a gentle effect on correcting the competitiveness of the field, without distorting it."

For all its merits, Brawn initially faced some opposition from teams when the concept was tabled, until common sense kicked in.

"It was amusing really in the sense that one of the Mercedes people was complaining to me about it, and I said, ‘You’re assuming that you’re always going to win. Just think for a moment, you’re second or third, wouldn’t you like a bit of assistance?’

"And it suddenly dawned on him that if they didn’t win, this would be quite useful."

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