F1 team bosses raise concerns about calendar expansion

Formula 1 teams have urged organisers to take careful considerations over the future race calendar if it is expanded from the current 21-round schedule.

F1 is preparing to start a triple header of races starting in France before consecutive rounds following in Austria and Great Britain and then one weekend off ahead of a pair of back-to-back races in Germany and Hungary to create a total of five races in six weeks.

Reports have emerged of F1 owners Liberty Media looking to continue to increase the race calendar with a new round in Miami in the pipeline while additional races are also being plotted in Vietnam and Denmark.

Force India’s deputy team principal Robert Fernley feels any increase in the F1 race calendar would trigger the need for two travelling crews of mechanics and engineers to share the work load which would naturally increase team costs in terms of planning and logistics.

“I think you have to look at the human logistics in a lot of this,” Fernley said. “Twenty races, we’re very much on the edge of being able to maintain it with one crew, one travelling crew in particular. So once you start moving in beyond that, occasionally we can go to 21 and then we go back to 19 and we can cope with all of that, but once you get a sustained amount of races that are going well up into the twenties we’re going to have to bring in revolving crews.

“There’s a huge cost to that and these are the things we’ve got to look at so there needs to be just a look at how are we going to do it logistically. It’s quite capable from a show point of view but it will change how we, as teams, operate in my opinion.”

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner has echoed Fernely’s concerns but feels Liberty will resist over saturating the F1 race calendar.

“If F1 is on every weekend, every year, every weekend, are we not on a downward spiral? I think Liberty Media is aware of this, I don’t think there is a big plan in place to go to 25 or 24 races,” Steiner said. “I think it will always be between 20 and 22 and starting earlier and ending later.

“It gives us a little bit more freedom not to have the back-to-back-to-back like we will have. I think they are well aware that there is a saturation factor for the human element and for what the customer actually wants.”

While Williams chief Claire Williams has backed plans to expand F1’s presence in America, she is wary of stretching out the season which will cut into the winter break for team personnel to take time away from the sport.

“Starting earlier and finishing later maybe gives more of a break [between races] but it actually then takes away time to build our cars over the winter and for the guys to spend good quality time at home with their families,” Williams said.

“I think from a purely sporting fan perspective, if it’s from a saturated market, then it’s great if we have more races if we can go to more markets, particularly within America as I think that would crucial for our sport.

“But if we are to do that then it has to make financial sense and those races that come on the calendar have to come on because they are paying to do so. Teams should be expected to go to new races for nothing because then the prize fund pot dilutes down and it’s just costing the teams more.”