With a record 23 races on the 2023 Formula 1 World Championship schedule, and more set to be added in coming years, this is a development that is going to strain teams, claims Red Bull boss Christian Horner.
With the idea of more and more races being added, and no sign of CEO Stefano Domenicali slowing down, teams are starting to express their concern. Most notably, Christian Horner and Red Bull, who always have a lot to say on every matter.
Alongside the vast schedule of races this season, we also have the revised sprint weekends, which technically bring the race number total up to a whopping 29. That’s a big number in F1. During an interview with The Financial Times, Red Bull TP Horner, expressed concern on the matter, revealing his thoughts toward the ever-growing race F1 calendar.
Regarding Domenicali and FOM’s bullish approach to adding new venues, 49-year-old Horner said: “The problem is, Stefano turns up, and they play the same trick every year, and it’s like, ‘Oh, maybe we can’t go to Silverstone, or Monza’s looking a bit wobbly’, and so on.”
F1 calendar length: When is enough, enough?
Horner continued: “What about Las Vegas? Okay, alright, we’ll go to Vegas. ‘What about Miami?’ Yeah, alright. We’ll go there too. And you know, they just keep coming up with great venues and great races, and it’s difficult to say no.
“You get to a point where, you know, 23 Sundays a year for people to take two hours out of their Sunday afternoon or evening, it’s a big commitment to follow a whole season, and I think that’s enough,” added the Briton.
It is not a new song, as teams have always pointed this out as a problem, not only logistically but also from a personnel perspective, thus one could argue that Horner has a good point here, as an over-saturated F1 calendar is bad for teams, drivers and a lot of fans alike.
In a sport where money truly talks, it’s very easy to see where FOM (with a nod from the FIA) are at with all of this: create as many new races as possible, in order to fill Liberty Media coffers. This then triggers the F1 calendar question: When is enough, enough?