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MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – MARCH 15: Mercedes GP Executive Director Toto Wolff looks on in the Team Principals Press Conference during practice for the F1 Grand Prix of Australia at Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)
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MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – MARCH 15: Mercedes GP Executive Director Toto Wolff looks on in the Team Principals Press Conference during practice for the F1 Grand Prix of Australia at Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)
The 2021 season is going to be the longest Formula 1 has ever had with three triple headers. Therefore, there will be three continuous race weekends in the 2021 season. Many feel that the year is going to be very tiring, and Mercedes’ boss, Toto Wolff, agrees.
The Formula 1 fans love a triple-header; however, these tight weekends are really difficult for the teams. Even though they are very exhausting, Wolff, in a recent interview, acknowledged the necessity of these triple headers.
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BARCELONA, SPAIN – FEBRUARY 19: Mercedes GP Executive Director Toto Wolff looks on from the garage during day one of Formula 1 Winter Testing at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on February 19, 2020 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Charles Coates/Getty Images)
“I think the teams are the beneficiaries of the growing sales and the growing income. The teams are still getting a huge chunk of EBITDA * and in that respect we all need to support growth,” he further added.
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Triple headers help Formula 1 to ensure that the teams do not have to miss out on races. AlphaTauri boss, Franz Tost in fact provided a calculation of how much his team losses on missing one race.
“If we don’t drive a Grand Prix, it’ll cost one and a half to two million,” he said.
Toto Wolff believes triple headers should not become a constant
There are obvious pros going into triple headers, but at the same time, it takes quite a toll on the engineers, mechanics, and crew members of the team. Wolff, therefore, clarified that even though they have their pros, triple headers should not become a recurring theme in Formula 1 calendars.
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NUERBURG, GERMANY – OCTOBER 09: Mercedes GP Executive Director Toto Wolff talks in the Team Principals Press Conference during practice ahead of the F1 Eifel Grand Prix at Nuerburgring in Nuerburg, Germany. (Photo by Joe Portlock/Getty Images)
“You have to ask yourself how long this is sustainable and whether you can introduce a different system by having a second crew that can take on these toughest tasks,” he explains.
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Therefore, triple headers are a debate of economic success versus human suffering. The best way forward, as the successful F1 Boss explains, is to retain triple headers but ensure they don’t become a regular occurrence.
However, as a Formula 1 fan, would you like to see more triple headers in an F1 calendar?
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* EBITDA is the business result of a company before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization on property, plant, equipment and on intangible assets.
