Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi insists that the Formula 1 drivers will be glad to take part in 23 races in one calendar year.
The 2022 F1 season is scheduled to be the ‘biggest’ the sport has ever seen. The 23 race season kicks off at Bahrain in March, and ends with the Abu Dhabi GP in November. Hosting that many races in such a short time-span has led to many people wondering if the calendar is too ‘crammed’.
Laurent Rossi however, thinks that fans and drivers will welcome this change. The Frenchman believes that having more races will increase viewership of the sport, something that is good in the long run. Adding to his comments, he admits that from a ‘mechanical and logistics’ point of view, hosting so many races could prove to be a problem.
The 2022 #F1 calendar is here! 🙌
A record-breaking 23 races 🏅
A brand new grand prix in Miami 💜
Australia, Canada, Singapore and Japan all return 👌 pic.twitter.com/khq5lAF1IR— Formula 1 (@F1) October 15, 2021
“It’s a lot,” said Rossi. “At the same time it’s great for the sport and the drivers love it. If you offered them 40 races, they would probably drive 40 times a year. When they’re not at the track, they’re driving their karts anyway, or other things.”
To reduce the amount of workload on employees, and keep a check on the ‘carbon footprint’ left behind from logistics, Rossi feels that there should be an increased break in between races. “The fewer double and triple headers we have, the better it is,” he adds.
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Formula 1 is moving in the right direction, says the Alpine boss
Laurent Rossi went on to say that the new additions to F1 have made the sport more enjoyable. He cited the example of ‘Sprint Races’ as something that add more to a race weekend.
On top of that, he welcomes the new tracks. Last year we saw F1 race in Qatar and Saudi Arabia for the first time ever. In 2022, Miami will host a Formula 1 race for the first time ever. Rossi feels that these new tracks set very high standards, that make the old classic venues look obsolete.
⚠️ | Sprint races may not go ahead in 2022, says Zak Brown:
“A couple of teams wanted a $5million budget cap increase, which was ridiculous.
Maybe there can be a compromise. These teams should have to explain to fans why there are no sprint races”.
— formularacers (@formularacers_) January 18, 2022
“It’s great to be in Spa, Monza and Silverstone. I love these races very much,” he continued. “At the same time, however, new routes such as in Miami are a motivation for the historic courses “not to rest on their laurels”. And thus run the risk of possibly losing their place in the calendar.”
“Sprint races are a step in the right direction because they improve the show a bit. Also, The budget limit is the best thing that happened to the sport.”
“Because otherwise a lot of people would have already given up and said, ‘Even as Renault I can’t invest a billion euro every year. Sorry, that doesn’t make sense.’ I think the cost cap is great,” the Frenchman concluded.
Also read: Fernando Alonso believes 2022 cars would not be hard to drive
