Expansion seems unstoppable: Formula 1 doesn’t just push its drivers “brutally” to the limit

Expansion seems unstoppable
Formula 1 doesn’t just push its drivers “brutally” to the limit

February 28, 2024, 6:45 a.m

Endless travel days and flight kilometers, ever new routes, more, more, more: Formula 1 is driving forward its growth and is planning a record number of 24 races for the 2024 season. This exacerbates the conflict between high demand and limited resources.

Sergio Perez simply finds it “brutal”. No, the Mexican doesn’t mean his life as an often outclassed teammate of long-time winner Max Verstappen. Nor the fact that his contract with Red Bull expires at the end of the year and he is talked about as if he was already gone. The father of four finds what the Formula 1 management demands of drivers, team members and entourage “brutal”.

There are 24 races on the program this season – more than ever. There are also six sprints. The days on the route including test drives increase to a good 100, not including arrival and departure days. Anyone who is busy setting up and dismantling can add a little extra. And yet there is a logical reason for further expansion – at least from an economic perspective. “The demand is unbroken,” says Formula 1 managing director Stefano Domenicali. “Last year I said that I could increase the calendar to 32 races overnight. Now there are even more,” explained the Italian in an interview with “Bild am Sonntag” at the end of 2023.

And yet there is no place in the calendar for the auto nation of Germany. It’s the old story: the route operators of the Nürburgring or Hockenheimring can no longer afford the horrendous entry fees, but other locations are willing to open the box, with government help sometimes in the high double-digit million range. Per year. “We’re not asking for 100 million euros for a Grand Prix – but we’re not welfare either. A Grand Prix has to be worthwhile for us too,” explains Domenicali meaningfully.

This time it starts on Saturday

Madrid will definitely join them in 2026; there are reportedly efforts from the USA to bring at least one more Grand Prix to the country. There are already three: Miami, Austin and Las Vegas. Please note that these races do not take place one after the other, but are spread out over the course of the season. Formula 1, which is advertising the goal of climate neutrality by 2030, still has room for improvement in its calendar planning. The continent will be changed nine times in 2024, with a particularly large number of kilometers being collected on the Shanghai-Miami-Imola and Monaco-Montreal-Barcelona travel routes.

But the premier class is actually already making progress in terms of the much-invoked “regionalization”. Japan is moving from the regular date in autumn to spring and now takes place between the races in the comparatively close countries of Australia and China.

But, and this is also Formula 1: If you want to follow the start of the season in Bahrain, you shouldn’t just tune in on the usual Sunday. The race was scheduled for next Saturday (4 p.m. CET/Sky and RTL) brought forward, as was the second race on March 9th in Saudi Arabia – because the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan begins the day after the Jeddah race. The race in the gaming paradise of Las Vegas on November 23rd will also start again late Saturday evening (local time).

By the way, Verstappen doesn’t particularly mind the bloat of the calendar. “Of course the season is a little longer,” said the world champion of the last three years, “but to be honest, once you’re in the middle of the season, you’re in mode anyway. So you just keep going.” Just like the entire Formula 1.