2024 is going to be a historic year for F1 as the sport gears up for a 24-race calendar. Sergio Perez, however, isn’t the biggest fan of the direction the sport is taking and has urged F1 and the FIA to curb their ambitions.
The Guadalajara-born driver told GPBlog.com, “Obviously it’s something that we’re going to raise it up to try and see what can be done. Probably now it’s late for next year but for the year after to really try to maximise it. I don’t remember seeing people so exhausted in the last race. I think it’s something that we’ve got to be taking very seriously because it’s important for the sport. For the drivers, too.”
This season, with the cancellation of the Emilia-Romagna GP and the Chinese GP the drivers and team personnel had to prepare for 22 races. Still, after the Abu Dhabi GP, the exhaustion in the paddock was palpable. What’s more, the trip from Las Vegas to the season finale at Abu Dhabi made matters worse in terms of jet lag and travel fatigue.
Naturally, a 24-race calendar is going to make matters worse. Despite the sport’s previous attempts at organizing such an extensive calendar, Red Bull advisor, Helmut Marko believes it will once again not materialize in a 24-race calendar as planned.
Helmut Marko expects another F1 failure despite Stefano Domenicali’s promise
In 2022, the Russian GP was cancelled amid rising political and military tensions. Hence, F1 once again went ahead with just 222 races. In 2023, the tragic Imola floods led to the cancellation of the Emilia-Romagna GP as well. Additionally, the Chinese GP did not go ahead either because of Covid restrictions in the nation. Now, Marko predicts the same fate for the 2024 calendar.
Marko explained, “First let’s see if all 24 races can actually be run. As we know, Imola did not go ahead this year because of the natural disaster. When I look at how things are going in the world, you have to be very optimistic that everything can go ahead as planned.”
As per the incumbent Concorde Agreement signed between the 10 teams and the sport, a maximum of 24 races can be run in a single season. Hence, the sport cannot go above and beyond this number. But for F1’s CEO, Stefano Domenicali, this number hits the sweet spot for the foreseeable future.
He told Tom Clarkson on the Beyond the Grid podcast, “What we want to do next year is 24 and I think 24 is the right number.”
