I’m not really in favour”– Alain Prost is not pretty impressed with the ideas of so many changes and recovering losses by adding races.
When Alain Prost was racing in Formula 1, the sport was much different than the current days, and when asked about the reforms included, he is not certainly impressed.
His biggest resentment is the addition of races to fill the financial void by barring some sponsors like cigarette companies, for example, Marlboro, which was once a premium sponsor of Ferrari.
“I think the reason for more races is obviously to get more money. It’s always a question of compromise. We lost some big sponsors, when I was there we had the cigarettes, the alcohol, so we lost this big amount of money.”
“We need to get some revenue, so that was the reason. Increasing the number of races is not stupid at all, but there is always a limit,” he added.
“We need to understand that some people in the top teams are there for a long time. They want to spend more time with their family. With travelling all the time, that is very difficult. I’m not really in favor of so many races. We have to be careful that we don’t have too much.”
F1’s original plan was to run 23 races this year, but due to the withdrawal of a few organizing countries have currently cropped the calendar to 22 races. But F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali envisions 23 races again in 2022.
Domenicali: “I would like to keep the F1 calendar at 23 races. We have inquiries from Africa, we are talking to South & North Africa, + one or two races in the Far East, such as Korea. I can imagine a third of the races in Europe, the others spread around the world.”#Sportbild
— tami. (@Vetteleclerc) September 15, 2021
You can reshape tests for more money and development
The test is an essential phase for all teams, especially the winter testing. Many teams are even ready to entertain paid drivers for a session, and Prost insists that F1 can further develop in this direction.
“And going back to the number of races, I would say maybe twenty races? Twenty-one races maximum, but I would go back to testing during the year.”
“I would make different regulations to have test teams, because it is easy to do that. The advantage of testing is that you can test the things on the track, you make the drivers exercise.”
“You can use young drivers to be able to see exactly what they have, you can invite sponsors to the testing”, Prost said.
