“Hard to Say No”: Red Bull TP Christian Horner Backs Drivers’ Grievances on F1’s Eternal Expansion That Can Cause a Breaking Point

Formula 1 is under fire in 2023 as it is going through some major shakeups. As a result, drivers have offered a string of criticisms, but they’ve collectively focused their complaints on one particular area- increasing the number of races. Over the last few years, F1 has seen a massive growth in popularity, with new fans tuning into the sport every single season. This provided the biggest opportunity for growth. Not just to convert the new audience to lifelong fans, but also to draw interest from different countries to host races. So F1 is constantly looking to host new locations, but the drivers think it should stop. 

This year, with the addition of Las Vegas, the 2023 season was set to feature a record-breaking 24 races – the longest season ever in F1. But it has been reduced to 23 due to the cancellation of the Chinese Grand Prix. However, for the first time in F1 history, the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix was also canceled due to intense flooding and rainfall in Northern Italy. This further brought down the total races to 22. Anyway, whether there are ultimately 22 or 23, Christian Horner doesn’t really care. Because the current calendar still has too many races and asks too much of the teams.

Warning that the F1 teams are already close to the breaking point, Max Verstappen’s team boss told Financial Times: “You get to the point where you wonder if it’s not getting too much. 23 races is a ridiculous number and so are the kilometers we have to cover in a season. It’s better for me to keep racing on the tracks we already have than to keep adding new tracks. This is because you eventually come to a breaking point. I feel like we’re not far from that.”

When Horner was asked how many races he would like to have on the calendar, he replied, “About eighteen” with a laugh. The Briton is aware that his wish will most likely not come true. Stating why, Horner said: “The problem is that Stefano (Domenicali, ed.) shows up and uses the same trick over and over. Then he says, Oh, maybe we can’t get to Silverstone this year, or Monza looks a bit bumpy. And then he says: Look, we can’t lose Monaco, Monza, and Silverstone. And they keep coming up with fun circuits and fun races, so it’s hard to say no to that.” 

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This year, F1 also doubled the total number of sprint races, adding to the already hectic calendar. Obviously, the biggest critic of sprint races, Max Verstappen, was not happy about it. 

“I will not enjoy it”: Max Verstappen if F1 adds more races 

Sprint races have been a part of the calendar since 2021 and almost ever since then, Max Verstappen has voiced his complaints about them. However, due to its commercial success, F1 decided to double the races to six this year, compared to only three before. But Verstappen has threatened to turn his back on Formula1 if the sport’s bosses press ahead with plans to expand the number of sprint events.

During the first of the season that took place in Azerbaijan, Verstappen said, “I hope there won’t be too many changes, otherwise I won’t be around for too long. I am not a fan of it at all. When we do all that kind of stuff, the weekend becomes very intense and we already do a lot of races. But it is not the right way to go about it. I understand they want to make every day at the track exciting but they should reduce the weekend, and only race on Saturday and Sunday and make those two days exciting.”

Verstappen believes that the new sprint races will only add to the already long and stressful calendar. So he further added, “We are heading into seasons where we could have 24 or 25 races and if you then start adding more it is not worth it for me. I will not enjoy that.”

Watch this story: Will Max Verstappen Retire Early from F1?

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