Let
G
G
be a finite complex irreducible linear group of degree less than
p
−
1
p-1
for some fixed prime
p
p
, whose order is divisible by
p
p
to the first power only, and which has no normal Sylow
p
p
-subgroup. An inequality of Brauer, which bounds
p
p
by a function of the number of conjugate classes of
p
p
-elements, is improved.