Brawn: Young people don't want to watch two hour races

Formula 1 Managing Director Ross Brawn has explained that part of the reasoning behind the introduction of Sprint Qualifying this year is down to a perception that young people simply don't want to watch two hour long races.

Brawn, speaking on a live interview session with The Muscle Help Foundation, said that the intention was to find a way to appease existing fans while also catering to fans who don't have the attention span for a full race.

"We've been working on trying to get a sprint race format for a number of years, and it is now part of the whole weekend," Brawn explained.

"So Friday, we'll have qualifying as you do now, that will set the grid for a Sprint Qualifying race on Saturday, a 100 kilometre race. And the outcome of that will determine the grid for the Grand Prix on a Sunday. And along the way, the first, second or third in the sprint qualifying will score three to one points. And its a format we want to test, things change.

"And young people don't necessarily want to watch two hours of racing on a Sunday afternoon, we may find a short format of racing is more appealing to them. But we don't want to disorientate our loyal fans who are really the core of our sport. And so can we find a combination? And that's what we're testing. So we'll do three races this year, we'll take stock, and then we'll decide what the next step is for the future."