F1 needs to be ‘clever’ about calendar expansion - Steiner

Formula 1 “needs to be clever” about how it handles plans to expand the calendar beyond the current 21-race format, according to Haas chief Guenther Steiner.

F1 owner Liberty Media has made it clear it wants to expand the amount of grands prix on the calendar, with new events in Vietnam and Miami set to be added in the coming years. It is understood a return to the African continent is a priority for the sport’s bosses, while a second race in China is also being mooted.

Speaking in the build-up to this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix, Steiner highlighted his concerns with additional races not necessarily being “productive” for all involved.

Referencing comments made by Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost that he does not have a problem with extra races, Steiner replied: “I care about the families, because then the people working are happy.

“I think if we reorganised a little bit the weekend, how we run it, we maybe could make some savings there. With days at the track.

“We cannot save days but we can adjust it a little bit. I agree with Franz, if the new races bring financial benefits, why not do it?

“But we need to be clever about it and try to find the days somewhere else. Just putting more and more on is maybe not productive.

“Also, we need to be careful what the spectator wants. In general, if we can make the weekends a little bit shorter for the people that work here, I think we can do a few more races.”

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says calendar saturation would force teams to re-think how they go about racing, and result in more personnel rotation throughout the season.

“Saturation is something that needs to be considered,” Wolff explained.

“Formula 1 is exclusive and adding more races is not adding to the exclusivity factor.

“On the other hand, we are all asking Liberty to increase revenue and doing more races is obviously the biggest leverage in that respect.

“In my opinion it’s a fine balance. We need to respect that, at the moment, the travelling population, all the race team, is pretty flat out.

“I don’t think you can really do much more than 21 races. You need to work with a second shift. We have started to rotate a little bit – but then you can’t really rotate the very senior personnel.

“So, if we do more races, my opinion is that it needs to be linked with more income and spectacular new tracks or markets that we open up. That would be important.”