The sport transitioned into an unprecedented 24-race calendar last year, and the format will carry forward to 2025 as well. That said, behind the scenes, the top brass of F1 and the FIA are looking to expand the calendar further.
There has been a lot of talk about adding more circuits to the track and tapping into the African and Asian markets. Amid this, the exhaustive 24-race season has already seen talks of rotational squads being introduced to reduce the workload on the existing team crews and staff.
Speaking on the Red Flags podcast, Red Bull technician, Calum Nicholas explained why expanding the calendar further is not a good idea. In fact, the current calendar is something that Nicholas deems as unsustainable.
“You can do one, two, maybe even three seasons of this 24 races but, you know, it’s not sustainable over a decade,” he said.
“Whatever your skillset is, there is a job for you”
Calum Nicholas explains the importance of diversity in motorsports and how key it is to raise awareness for young people as to how they can break into the sport. pic.twitter.com/OLGglT45Cf
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) October 12, 2023
This is exactly why Nicholas believes that down the line, all the teams will start introducing rotational staff. He cited his own example for this and said that he wouldn’t have been in the sport for this long if he had started off with such an extensive schedule.
Nicholas also pointed out the cost cap as a deterrent for people to stay in the sport.
“I think the bigger thing is you know certainly for trackside personnel with salaries currently being an in the cost-cap. Ultimately what you’re seeing is a lot of talented people seeing a ceiling on what they can earn in F1,” he added.
Apparently, former Red Bull CTO, Adrian Newey also flagged this concern recently. Amid the increasing stress for F1 engineers and mechanics, they are not getting the remuneration they deserve, per Newey.
How the cost cap and expanding calendar are making F1 lose resources
The ultimate apprehension that Nicholas posed was the fact that the loss of personnel could lead to F1 losing its status as the pinnacle of motorsport. Employees have been leaving the series to work in categories like the World Endurance Championship (WEC) and IndyCar which have better-paying roles.
Moreover, with the calendar expanding and a strict ceiling on how much each employee can earn, teams are seeing their employees work harder and longer for lesser proportional pay.
To this end, Nicholas cited an old rule in the paddock that can enable teams to pay their employees well, even under the cost cap regulations. He suggested that the FIA should implement a fixed quota of staff that the teams can have and allocate resources accordingly.
