The conclusion of the season results in the balance of what was done during the year. Problems (the last ones also at the Abu Dhabi tests) and satisfactions, everything needs to be analyzed to try to do even better the following year. One of the topics that is undoubtedly treated with insistence is the 2024 calendar. Sara the longest ever, well 24 races around the world.
Pilots united: “This year has already been unsustainable”
From a point of view of showmanship, having so many races brings greater attention by the fans. Indeed, the many stages will lead unpredictability, with the hope of a championship open until the last race. But looking better inside the teams F1, too many races mean an impressive physical effort. Just think of the latest events of this season. We saw pilots exhausted during the GP of Qatar, and always them together with meccanici ed engineers they had to contend with the time difference between Las Vegas ed Abu Dhabi. One of the witnesses of this suffering was George Russell, who was the victim of a bad one flu syndrome both in America and in the Emirates: “I was probably coughing four times a lap, so it was quite painful. I have been very ill for the last two weeks. First in Las Vegas I accused one severe fever. I can say that I couldn't sleep and I felt terrible. Then I had a cough that accompanied me for the whole week and especially when I was in the car. I was coughing every lap – said the Briton, explaining how, while driving, there isn't enough time to breathe well - but when you're tied to the car you can't breathe. You can't take a deep breath to make the cough go away.".
Russell thinks big: “Not just us, broken mechanics”
As mentioned, it's not just the riders who struggle against such a busy calendar, but above all the highly specialised of the various stables. As stated again by the 25 year old from Mercedes Benz, everyone around the circus is trying to recover from the constant changes of country in recent weeks: “It's not an easy situation. All teams, at the end of the day, unfortunately have several engineers who are struggling with the constant time zones. Their body he doesn't even know where he is: we eat at different times, staying in different hotels even with different climates. What happens is that the body gets confused. There has been talk in various circumstances about the possibility of regulating personnel so that they cannot participate in all races. It's not sustainable and 4.000 people do approximately 24 races per season, even more so if you consider everything from a geographical point of view".
Correct idea that of English, but the budget cap introduced in 2021 has led teams to have to make choices (even drastic ones) to stay within the maximum cap. So, at the moment, there would be a continuous turnover of mechanics and engineers unmanageable on a monetary level for builders.
Article by Francesco Orlando
