George Russell opines against F1’s decision to hold the Miami GP right after Baku. The Mercedes driver claims a 15-hour flight right after a Grand Prix is extremely tiring. It’s further exhausting for the pit crew and paddock personnel who would have completed 12-14 hour shifts in the last race weekend.
Right after the Azerbaijan GP, drivers will hop on the first flight to Miami. Drivers and all team personnel will have to make to complete the 11,000 KM journey to get.
Goerge Russell wants to see a change in F1’s scheduling
George Russell claims the 2023 F1 calendar is unsustainable in the long run. Throughout the season, teams will be forced to cover over 125,000 KM across 23 venues. This puts a huge toll on the well-being of the team personnel and its impact on the environment.
The Briton previously told PlanetF1, “There has been a lot of talk about how sustainable the calendar is, jumping from the Middle East to America and back to Europe. I think in years to come that will be improved. It doesn’t make sense to a lot of our fans too.”
F1’s expanding schedule comes with its challenges in scheduling reckons Russell. He added, “There are a lot of limitations with the climate; we race at certain events and limitations of street circuits, of when they can open them.”
The GDPA director said he had spoken to F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali regarding this matter. Russell claims the F1 boss has considered the plight of the drivers, which would be considered ahead of the 2024 season.
Russell plans to shift the Australian GP date
George Russell vented his frustration against F1’s schedule in his meet with Tennis ace Novak Djokovic. The Briton described the Melbourne race as a “Killer” as it took him and his team over a week to get back
The Mercedes driver claims the race in down can be back-to-back with a Middle Eastern race. This will save teams travel time. This will also prevent F1 from having a scheduling gap of 3-weeks between races like in this season.
Another suggestion by the Mercedes driver is to tweak the race weekend schedule. The GDPA director claims the FP1 can start on a Friday afternoon instead of the current morning program. “Having the first session on a Friday afternoon, or evening so there is less pressure for teams to arrive, on Wednesday,” he said.
He added, “If you have your first session on Friday morning you need to be here on a Thursday, which for a lot of the races requires flying on a Wednesday.” Russell reasons this will give almost an extra month spent at home with family, which is a lot.
F1 plans to add another race in 2024, increasing its race calendar to 24 races. The sport plans to have an annual calendar of 25-30 races, which could cause a problem in scheduling and hosting races.
