Ross Brawn considering bringing non-championship race to F1

Ross Brawn, new Formula One motorsport chief, has suggested that the idea of non-championship event to experiment with different race formats could be reintroduced.

Brawn, who masterminded Ferrari's dominance of the early 2000s and won a title with his own team in 2009, said: "It might be rather optimistic."

"But you can imagine if we had a non-championship race there'd be a lot more capacity to look at different formats and approaches and see if the fans take to it with much less risk or exposure than we would if we were doing something in the championship," he was quoted as saying by the Guardian.

Keke Rosberg, father of 2016 world champion Nico, won the last non-championship race was held at Brands Hatch in 1983.

"We often had non-championship races in the old days but getting it all to work is another matter," said Brawn.

He, however, insisted that the challenge before them is that the idea needs to be commercially viable.

"Again, it couldn't just be 'pick ideas out of a hat'. It needs to be properly thought through, but maybe an opportunity," he said.

Silverstone also held the International Trophy from 1949 to 1978.