Ross Brawn moots non-championship F1 races to trial new formats

Speaking to Sky Sports during F1 testing at Barcelona on Tuesday, Brawn said such a plan would allow alternative formats to be evaluated without risking affecting a world championship battle.

The recent Liberty Media hire underlined he would only change the grand prix format if it was clear fans and competitors wanted it.

"My dream actually would be to have a non-championship race once a year," said Brawn.

"And in that non-championship race you could experiment.

"So you could try a different format for one race and see.

"It would enable us to vary the format and try something different and evolve it.

"Like everything else you'd tune it. Then you could make it better and say, 'actually now, this is better than what we have. The fans love it, everyone loves it. Let's swap.'"

Non-championship races used to be a regular part of the F1 calendar but none has been held since the 1983 'Race of Champions' at Brands Hatch. Keke Rosberg won that race for Williams.

"You can't take a risk in a championship of swapping the format and getting it wrong," said Brawn. "I'm a bit nervous about that.

"When we start changing the format, we have to be very sure that we've got it right.

"Because when you start a championship with one format, you can't change it during the year - or you shouldn't change it during the year."

Brawn also said that any changes would have to appeal to current F1 fans, as well as potential new followers.

"If we went to two races over a weekend and then realised it wasn't quite what we want, we can't change it," he said.

"What we don't want to lose is our classic fans - we want to maintain them. We want to give them an even better deal, and also encourage new enthusiasts.

"We need that balance."