F1 News: Mercedes Chief And Red Bull Senior Advisor Unite Against 'Really Brutal' Issue

Saajan Jogia | 3 Hours Ago

May 4, 2024; Miami Gardens, Florida, USA; Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen (1) lead the field into turn one during the F1 Sprint Race at Miami International Autodrome. Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-Imagn Images / Peter Casey-Imagn Images

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff and Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko have united against a major problem affecting Formula 1 right now, which is the "really brutal" 24-race schedule that begins to show its effects on teams as the season approaches the final triple header. Wolff and Marko called for a better order to the schedule of the F1 calendar and emphasized that more races could not be added as all teams are operating at their limit.

The current Concorde Agreement permits a maximum of 25 Grands Prix per F1 season, and with growing interest from new venues worldwide, the addition of another race remains a possibility. However, Marko believes the sport has already reached its limit, claiming that mechanics bear the greatest burden of the demanding schedule. He called for a more logical distribution of races on the calendar to minimize long-haul flights and significant time zone shifts. Speaking to ORF, as quoted by RacingNews365, Marko said in a joint interview with Wolff:

"I think it is at the limit and I am only part of the senior management now.

"One has to look at the mechanics, like during the Las Vegas Grand Prix. That race was run late in the evening, after the mechanics and flight of fourteen to sixteen hours had been behind them and just had to continue at the same pace.

"If we want to keep those 24 races on the calendar, the order really needs to improve. People are flying all over the world, that's just the way it is. But if you ask me, more [races] are just not good, even if you look at the workload. Unless you start with two crews.

"The distribution of races just has to be balanced. You have traditional European races, but also new races that are good, but lack a certain motorsports culture.

"Races at Spa or Monza, for example, do have that culture, but that's how we need to maintain the balance. But increase it [number of races] is not allowed, if it is up to me."

Wolff noted that frequent time zone changes disrupt the body's natural rhythm, impacting mechanics even more as they are often required to travel in economy class. He added:

"I talked to Helmut the other day about Las Vegas. It was really brutal, because you only see a few hours of daylight before you go to bed and don't know when to eat.

"Everyone handled that differently, but that affects your rhythm so much that it's hard to recover from that. Not to mention the flying!

"The other day I had a sponsorship event in Hawaii. I was there for a grand total of eighteen hours. I came in from Austin on a flight that took seven hours, and then back to Austin.

"That all sounds great, but when you're sitting in your hotel knowing you have to go to an event and can't just go to the beach, the situation suddenly becomes a lot less fun.

"I already thought that was cruel, so as Helmut says, it's all over the limit and we still travel comfortably.

"The mechanics travel economy class and are constantly up and down, so they have it even harder. You can see from all the faces that it won't last long this way."