Shop
That may appear hard to believe at present given the stranglehold on F1 applied by Max Verstappen and Red Bull.
The team has won 38 of the last 44 grands prix, whilst Verstappen broke numerous records last year en route to winning his third successive drivers’ title, including a run of 17 victories in the final 18 races.
Brown is happy to doff his cap to both Red Bull and Verstappen for a job well done, yet he has no doubt F1 is heading toward an era where it will be hard to call who will win any race.
Brown feels with the cost cap in place that has at least resulted in the 10 teams operating on a relatively level playing field, the spread of the grid will continue to decrease.
“On one hand, with one driver, we’ve never had a less competitive Formula 1 – thank you Max, and hats off,” said Brown, speaking on the KTM Summer Grill.
“Behind Max, it’s the most competitive I’ve ever seen Formula 1. (Last year) It was the first time in the history of Formula 1 we had five teams with seven or more podiums.
“You had teams that were ninth and 10th in the championship making it into Q3, I wouldn’t say a regular basis, but enough.
“In the good old days of Formula 1, the teams at the back of the grid were three seconds off (the front). Now the entire grid is covered by a second.
“So I don’t think Formula 1’s ever been more competitive, and I think it’s only going to get even more competitive.
“You had Max and the RB19 working their magic, which made the racing at the front a little more predictable than we’d all like it to be.
“But behind that, look at us, we were ninth quickest (at the start of the year) and ended up second quickest at the end of it.
“Then you had Aston Martin, second quickest (early on), then kind of dropped to fifth quickest and then made a comeback.
“The teams were amazing, so I think the sport is massively competitive, and I think once some of us catch this Max guy, Formula 1’s going to be unlike anything we’ve seen before.”
Brown has previously expressed concern that Red Bull was so dominant last year that it was able to turn its attention to this season’s challenger, the RB20, much earlier than any of its rivals with their cars.
In contrast, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has previously stated the new car will be evolutionary rather than revolutionary and is fully expecting a convergence in performance this year.
Brown is naturally hoping that is the case and, if so, would not be too amazed if Lewis Hamilton, for argument’s sake, became F1’s record holder with eight drivers’ titles.
Convinced his team is “going to take a step forward” this year, he added: “The great mystery is Red Bull, and when did they turn off development (of last year’s car) to focus on this year?
“I think the answer is probably pretty early, so we’ll just have to wait and see how much Adrian Newey magic comes out of the oven, so to speak, to see where we are.
“At the same time, Mercedes, Ferrari, these teams have everything they need, and they’re great teams.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if we were sitting here (at the end of the year) and all of a sudden Mercedes was back to Lewis winning his eighth championship.
“It’s very tough and competitive now, and I don’t think you can rule anybody out at this time of the year.”
