F1 isn't NASCAR or Indycar where most of the races, if not all, happen in the same country. F1 is on 4 continents, and in 21 countries. Just that should call for some restrain, IMO.
It's not just that. Indy and NASCAR don't develop their car in the way F1 does. So more races means continuing further the development. In addition the amount of equipment F1 moves around the planet is a factor higher than what it takes to move one of the American teams from place to place. The entire logistics and amount of people running a F1 team is so much bigger and costly than the "standard" series, that's why it is so tiring for everybody. Welcome back, btw.
monts Obviously Liberty wants more races to expand their business, get more profit and redistribute more to the teams. But the teams could end up being the losers in a 25-race calendar, and even be out of Pocket.. I guess each GP is at MINIMUM a 5 days affair for a team: Thursday to set up + 3 days racing + Monday to pack up. With 25 GPs, that would mean 125 days away from base MINIMUN. The present F1 season is 8 months (25 March to 25 November), Liberty could make it 9 months. 9 months equal roughly to 36 weeks/252 days but if you take away 125 away days, the workshop time at base would only be 127 days to work on the cars, rebuild them, etc ... Most of the teams are based in UK, bar Ferrari and Sauber, and have to satisfy British employment law. That means 2 weekly rest days (104 per year), plus 8 Boxing Days , plus 30/35 days of annual leaves. This is enforcable law. Which means that anybody working for a UK based team is entitled to 142 rest days a year. That doesn't fit very well with an increased Schedule. My point is that as they already struggle with a 21 races calendar, F1 teams would fine it even more difficult to cope with a 25 races workload. Not only the logistics would be stretched to their limits (with more back-to-back races) , but the team may have to resort to 2 travelling teams of mechanics at extra costs. So, just when Liberty is branding the threat of budget capping, the teams are facing more overheads. Where is the logic? Although the prospect of watching more races may be attractive, here as everywhere, the sting is in the détails. I am not sure a heavy calendar is in the interest of F1.
Well, at least we can have Michael Buffer announce, "Let's get ready to rumbuuuuuuul!" for a legit reason. lol
Only 4 continents....? Which one did you leave out? North American, South America, Europe, Asia and Australia are the current ones. Africa used to be included with Kyalami, but no longer. Antarctica is the one that has never held one....
There is no GP on the African continent right now. In my days, I was taught at primary school in the 50s about Europe, Asia, Africa, America and Australasia, being the 5 continents. Australasia was Australia and most of the Pacific Islands .There was no mention of South and North America being different continents. As for Antartica, it was never mentioned ! It seems that geography isn't taught the same way everywhere, or maybe the définitions have changed with the geo-politic situation.
Twenty is already too many. Roll it back to 16-18 max. It's not just the drivers, think of all the team personnel. They don't get to jet in and out on their private jet and stay in uber luxury. They fly commercial, are gone for weeks and weeks at a time leaving families and children behind. It's a grueling scheduled that wears people and families too thin. There's no point in comparing to NASCAR with 37 races every week. NASCAR is located all within one country. F1 is a global enterprise with long haul trips where people are gone for extended periods of time. I also agree that other than the personal cost, once you're over 18-20 you start to diminish the value. Really who cares about another vanilla race in a country with no racing heritage where the administration is willing to throw a few hundred million at Liberty for a glorified ego stroking for government brass. Bring back the old rules where a host country and track have to first hold other, lower tier, international series for a few years before they can even think about applying to host a GP.
The generational divide of education.....it is like a Continental fault line...... If we can't agree on how many Continents there are, how will we ever settle the Hamilton/Vettel divide......?
First and foremost ………. How is adding more races going to add to the competitiveness of the sport? This year was actually not bad but adding races won't make it better.
At 54 I was brought up with 7 (North America . South America . Europe . Asia . Africa . Antarctica . Australia), but many consider Europe and Asia one since they are not really divided which would be 6. I have never heard of just 4.
I'm sixty and we learned about subcontinents as well. Plate tectonics, subduction, volcanism; the works. And I spent most of grade school and junior high in what is now PC Tacoma (My neighborhood is now in Lakewood, actually).
I said 21 races at present, organised on 4 continents because there are no GPs in Africa at the moment. I was taught that America was just one continent, and Antartica was never mentioned in my school days. As for Europe, the Urals in the East, the Caucas mountains and the Mediteranea are its boundaries, or maybe that has changed? Also I was schooled in Europe. But, as I said previously, the geopolitics have changed since the 50s. Where does Central America fit in if the continent is divided ? LOL
F1 never really rests they are constantly working on development off season.So why not race a Little bit more - Good for us viewers
Now that its American owned, will we still have to wait thru the month of August with no racing? Get back to work!
8 teams out of 10 are UK based, and have to abide by British law. Out of their 30 days of annual leaves, employees here are entitled to 2 inunterrupted weeks of holidays in Summer. That why the August break was introduced during the F1 season. I don't know how they can get around that.
The one month, or so break in Summer, is because after the last GP before the break, the team has to bring back the cars ans the Equipment to base before going away. Then, after the 2 weeks holidays, it takes about one week to pack and despatch the cars to destination for the next GP. Most of the time, the staff gets only 2 weeks leaves out of a month break. There is at the moment a 4 months period between 2 seasons, for the mechanics to finish building and prepare the cars, and become familiar with their operations, make spare parts, etc ... Liberty proposes to reduce the inter-season to 3 months. I think this is unrealistic Under present rules. It's during that period that the staff can in turn takes the rest of their leaves. The difference between F1 and specs series is that F1 teams, don't only race the cars, but also design them, fabricate them, engineer them, build them and develop them all through the season. There is a lot more going on behind closed doors than what we see on the track. That doesn't exist in F3, F2, Indycar, where the cars are bought and development is not allowed.