George Russell wants Formula 1 race weekends cut to three days to compensate for packed calendar
- Nick Krige
- 20 April 2023
Mercedes driver George Russell believes Formula 1 needs to make some changes to its weekend schedule if it hopes to make its packed annual calendar viable for teams and fans.
Formula 1 has its busiest-ever schedule in 2023, with the number of race weekends expected to rise to around 24 by the end of the campaign.
As a result, there are more back-to-back race weekends and triple-headers than ever before and there are growing concerns among the paddock that it just might be a bit too much.
Already teams are forced to take a break in the middle of the season, with no one allowed to do any work at all during the break in a bid to allow teams to refresh and avoid burnout.
However, many - including Grand Prix Drivers' Association director Russell - feel far more needs to be done to protect those involved in the sport.
While Russell is confident Domenciali is listening to complaints from teams, he maintains they need to speak with a coherent voice for their concerns to be addressed.
"Stefano is incredibly open to hearing our views and having conversations," he said.
"I think collectively, we have a really strong input," he continued, explaining that the biggest concern of all of those in F1 was the way they bounced back and forth around the globe.
"There's obviously been a lot of talk about how sustainable the calendar is, jumping from the Middle East to America and back to Europe.
"I think Australia needs to be back-to-back with a Middle-Eastern race because almost all of us flew out [a week before the race]. All of the mechanics and engineers were likewise.
"You're already losing those additional three or four days, so it makes sense to be back-to-back with a Middle-Eastern race.
"For a lot of the fans, it doesn't make a lot of sense. There are a lot of limitations with the climate; we race at certain events and limitations of street circuits of when they can open them.
"I think in years to come, that will be improved.
"For the benefit of the 2,000 or 3,000 people travelling around the world, [we should have] the first session on a Friday afternoon/evening so there's less pressure for teams to arrive, let's say, on a Wednesday.
"If you have your first session on Friday morning you need to be here on a Thursday, which for a lot of the races requires flying on a Wednesday.
"If we push that back to allow teams to fly on a Thursday morning, you add that up [and it is] over 24 races in a year. You're getting on for almost a month extra at home or sleeping in your own bed.
"That's huge for everybody in this circus."
