Capito: If the value of F1 'goes down', value of teams goes down

Williams chief executive Jost Capito says Formula 1 must protect its value as a sport and avoid any artificial competition, insisting the teams and drivers doing the "best job" should always win.

Formula 1's stakeholders look set to greenlight a plan to trial a Saturday sprint race at three venues this season in a bid to gauge the idea and its impact on the action.

The option of introducing a reverse grid event has been permanently discarded. Such a concept could have potentially benefitted teams such as Williams that are part of F1's lower tier.

But Capito is fiercely against any gimmicks or regulations that would punish those doing the best job in F1.

"I believe that Formula 1 is the pinnacle of the sport and it should be attractive because it’s an attractive sport and not because it’s gambling," said the Williams chief.

"That’s why I’m not in favour of reverse grid. This is not because I think we are now in the front of the grid. That’s not why I don’t want reverse grids.

"If we talk about the regulations, I have to talk about what is the best for the sport, because only if the sport is in the right way, the teams can improve and be in the right way.

"If the value of Formula 1 goes down, then the value of everybody who is involved goes down.

"I will push strongly that when we discuss within the teams, we discuss what is the best for the sport, and when we decide what is the best for the sport, without just focussing on what is the best for my team in the regulations we have right now, it’s then what’s the best for the sport.

"Get that aligned and then fight within these regulations and have a competition there."

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Although he's now at the helm of a team that's battling at the back of the grid, Capito knows what it's like to dominate at the front, having guided Volkswagen to multiple titles in the World Rally Championship

The German says it is wrong to try and rein in a team's dominance or hinder its success, and that F1 in particular should reman a "pure sport".

"If someone dominates for years then they dominate for years because they are the best," he said.

"It was in rallying, at Volkswagen, when we were quite successful. [FIA President] Jean Todt came up to me at one rally and said ‘Hey Jost you are winning too much’ and I said ‘Go to the others and tell them they are losing too much!’

"You shouldn’t blame the guy who does the best job, and I think in motorsport, especially in Formula 1, there shouldn’t be balance of performance or some artificial competition.

"The guys who do the best job, and the drivers who do the best job, should win, and if they win for 10 years, they win for 10 years, fine, then everybody has to catch up and has to do a better job.

"You shouldn’t be punished in Formula 1 for not doing the best job, and [then] if you do a better job and you catch up you shouldn’t be punished by the balance of performance to move back again, yeah?

"I really like that in Formula 1 it’s a pure sport, it should stay a pure sport without making it artificially interesting as it’s not what the fans want to see."

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