Formula One news

Purnell stands by his idea

Red Bull team chief Tony Purnell has stood by his prpopsals to make F1 more interesting despite the fact his ideas were not taken up by fellow F1 team bosses. Purnell's plan was to replace the current qualifying format with a series of mini races over the Grand Prix weekend followed by a lottery to decide the grid for the first qualifying race and then the positions reversed for the second event.

"I still perceive F1 as a big business but under-pinned by entertaining people," Purnell told Autosport.com. "The suggestions I made for qualifying were wholeheartedly aimed at providing better entertainment for people who go to the races, especially on the Friday and Saturday, and for television viewers in general."

"I thought that to have Schumacher show he is the best driver in the world in every circumstance would be great. The public love it when Schumacher qualified badly because there is real interest there. So I am not saying the qualifying was a panacea but it was meant to be a constructive idea to entertain the public with." 

"I thought it was a good idea and no-one has told me why it was a bad idea," he added. "The surprising thing is that what a lot of people were side-stepped by was that it was a bit leftfield, but I have been surprised by the number of people who have said, 'now I have thought that through and actually given where we are, it could well work rather well'. The only constructive criticism I have heard is that it could be more expensive because we have more crashed cars and I think to myself…what does Joe Public love and would we be able to cope? Of course we could."

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