Brawn wants teams to release data 'secrets'

Apr.12 - New F1 sporting boss Ross Brawn wants to use secret team data to spice up the show for fans.

Currently, the teams' vast and impressive information-collecting abilities and technologies are almost entirely secret.

But with Liberty Media having swept in to succeed the Bernie Ecclestone era, Brawn's plan to add value for the fans would involve broadcasting in real time that secret data about fuel loads, tyre wear, engine settings and more via an app.

According to the Times newspaper, fans in the grandstands will also be able to access the info thanks to free and fast wifi.

"That's definitely coming. It's being worked on," said Brawn.

The next step after that will be convincing the teams to release their secret data in the best interests of the sport.

"If we cross that (secrecy) barrier, to make all that info available, I think the large chunk of enthusiasts would really enjoy seeing all that, both live and retrospectively," added Brawn.

"We know they need to beat each other but can we cross that barrier and say what we want is a much bigger business and, if we all (do it), nobody is going to be disadvantaged or advantaged."

Indeed, he said teams once went to great lengths to encrypt radio transmissions, but now those transmissions are routinely listened to by fans on the TV.

"There was just a change of mindset -- that everybody's radio is going to be free," said Brawn.

And he thinks that if the secrecy barrier is eventually broken in F1, it could be stepped up to the point that moves the teams closer together in competitiveness.

"Someone told me the other day that (in Nascar) at a certain stage of the season you can go and look at someone else's car and strip it apart and see what's in it. And that's their way of keeping everyone loosely competitive. And no one objects, no one has a problem.

"It's a philosophy that should be thought about," said Brawn.

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