A record-breaking 24-race calendar was good for F1 from a viewing perspective. But for those who kept the show running, it was a nightmare. The staff, especially the engineers, had to work all weekends, making the job extremely grueling, and it led to several exits, including one that recently caught the attention.
Luke Palms was one of the members who contributed to McLaren’s Constructors’ Championship win last year. However, ahead of the 2025 season, he quit, despite having joined F1 just two years ago.
Palms, a trackside IT infrastructure engineer, had thought about his departure the year prior. In 2023, he started suffering from burnout but managed to power through. However, the stress proved to be too much and before the 2024 campaign began, he was certain that it would be his last year in F1.
On his YouTube channel, Palm reflected on his difficult journey in F1. “It is now April 2023. I have burned myself out because I have realized that I can’t build the business that I want to build. Work, which this job takes up, is a lot more hours than a normal job. We also work 10-day stints, which is exhausting“.
Plus, Palm’s passion has always been to make content, which proved to be impossible, given the amount of workload he had at McLaren. He left the fast life of F1 behind and started doing something he truly loved. And there may be others who could soon follow him.
Calum Nicholas too contemplates quitting F1 after 10 years
Nicholas is a well-known face in the F1 paddock. The Red Bull engineer has been in the sport for a decade and recently admitted that things got too taxing when the FIA approved 24 races to the schedule. “I don’t wanna do it anymore,” he said in a recent podcast, where he shed light on how staying away from family is taking a mental toll on him.
With Nicholas being away from home for 200+ days, he is spending more time with colleagues than with his partner and daughter — something he understandably hates.
And it is not just engineers who have complained about how the expanded calendar is exhausting them.
Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso, who has spent more than two decades in the sport, also seemed to voice his concerns with his long flight times last season. After just five race weekends, he took to Instagram and revealed that he had already traveled 153 hours.
Fernando Alonso discussing the amount of flight time in the first 5 races on Instagram!
byu/Alvaro_Rey_MN informula1
With some of the veterans complaining about how exhausting the current calendar is, the F1 and the FIA may have to make changes to prevent quality individuals from leaving. But at the end of the day, it’ll be a business decision. ‘Cash is king’, after all.
