7 Days After Max Verstappen Threatened to Quit, Lando Norris Stands Tall With Best Friend Over Concerning Issue

It’s not every day you hear a 25-year-old Formula 1 driver as successful as Max Verstappen saying they want to quit the sport. But recent changes in the sport—which is more a business now—have elicited such reactions from the reigning world champion. And most recently, the 2024 F1 race calendar compelled Verstappen to reiterate his willingness to quit. Although his reasons & objections on this seem quite valid & also got support from his best friend Lando Norris.

Hosting races is a matter of pride for many countries, and with the growing interest in F1, more venues want to host the traveling circus. Last Wednesday, F1 released a 24-race world tour for 2024, and the Dutchman wasn’t too happy about it. According to Yahoo Sport, he said, “It is too many [races] for me, but we just have to deal with it. I think it is a bit more logical the way that it is planned. But more things will have to come together for me to make my mind up over whether I stay longer [than 2028] or not. But I think that these things are definitely not helping for sure,” said the Dutchman, whose Red Bull contract expires in 2028. But he wasn’t the only driver to express his disaccord.

Lando Norris seconds Max Verstappen’s concerns

F1 has been criticized for not putting too much thought into planning the calendar, with teams having to travel from one corner of the world to another and then back to where they started. Considering logistics contributes to F1’s carbon emissions the most, teams urged F1 to regionalize its calendar. While it has made an effort to do so for 2024, Lando Norris is still concerned about the number of races.

As per motorsportweek.com, Norris said, “I’d say 24 is a lot. If I had to put like a perfect number, I would say it’s probably closer to 20.” He also mentioned the effect having so many races has on the lives of team personnel, stating, “Like 20 is a good number, also for the lives of mechanics, engineers, everyone that travels, they’re away from their families, kids, and so on, for so many days, more days than us as drivers are away, so it’s tougher for them.”

As a solution, Norris suggested venues hosting races on a rotational basis so that even with 20 races, every venue would get the opportunity to host a race. He said, “Like 20 but then with rotating tracks. Sometimes you want to go to certain places in different years. You just can’t go to all the tracks that people want to go to. It’s as simple as that.” Could rotating venues be something the FIA implements?

Read More: “Now Lando Is Criticizing”: Despite First McLaren Podium in a Year, Norris’ Trusted Confidante Goes Through Trial by Fire

Stefano Domenicali already has plans to rotate races

F1, at the end of the day, is a business. Therefore, it tries to maximize its profits by going to venues that would garner the most audiences and viewership. With this in mind, F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali and the FIA removed the French GP from this year’s calendar to make room for races in Las Vegas and Qatar. Needless to say, the French team Alpine wasn’t too thrilled by the decision.

When Alpine asked Domenicali about the possibility of the French GP returning to the calendar, he said there would be a possibility of having races on a rotational basis, by which he meant that specific venues in the calendar would be swapped with circuits that weren’t on the calendar the previous season. Since FIA already had rotational races in mind, there’s a high possibility Norris’ suggestion would be taken into consideration, especially given the effect traveling so much has on drivers and their teams.

Do you think F1 will ever see a 20-race calendar again?

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