The 2023 Formula 1 season was one of the longest and most challenging ever, not only from the point of view of the number of Grands Prix during the year, but also due to the constant travel, the long periods spent away from home and the repeated changes time zone.
This aspect was highlighted more importantly in the final part of the championship, when fatigue began to be felt after a year of activity on the track. Suffice it to say that in just over eleven weeks eight Grands Prix were contested, moving from the times of the Asian away games to those of the American stages, before returning to the Middle East for the final act of the world championship. These last two trips were especially impactful, because all the teams had to adapt to the schedules in Las Vegas, to which were added further delays due to the problems encountered during the weekend, before moving to Abu Dhabi the following week, with an obvious time difference to be resolved in a few days.
Although next year’s 24-race schedule has already been released, with China reintroduced for the first time since 2019, there is pressure for Las Vegas to be bumped out of the final triple header. In fact, the current draft calendar envisages that the American stage will be the first of a triple event to which Qatar and Abu Dhabi will be added. Clearly, beyond the time zone problem, it is a significant physical commitment, not only for the pilots, but above all for the team members, who do not have all the comforts available.
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George Russell, Mercedes-AMG, speaks to the media
According to George Russell, the tiredness shown and the illnesses that have spread in the paddock in the last period are proof of how 22 races are already an unsustainable number for team personnel and that limits should be imposed for the next few years. “Us drivers, we get the best of every single person in this paddock. The way we travel, we’re in a very fortunate position.”
“But all the teams, up and down the paddock, have a lot of sick mechanics, engineers who are struggling with the constant time zone changes, with the body not knowing where it is, eating at different times, staying in different hotels , in different environments, with different climates. The body becomes confused. For next year there is talk of regulating the staff so that they cannot participate in all the races. I think that would be a good thing. I don’t think it’s sustainable for 4,000 people to do 24 races a season, especially when you consider that from a geographical point of view it still doesn’t make much sense,” explained Russell, underlining how it would be useful to have a turnover of staff during the year.
Although Formula 1 teams are starting to put in place concrete programs for staff rotation during the season, the introduction of the budget cap by the FIA in 2021 has naturally led the teams to limit the number of people within the team, which had a negative impact on the possibility of changing the mechanics and engineers on the track. Furthermore, there are figures, such as track engineers or those linked to the performance of the single-seater, who can rarely leave the racing fields, given their close relationship with the drivers.
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The mechanics bring Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W14 onto the starting grid
A similar concept was also expressed a few weeks ago by Carlos Sainz during the weekend of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, in which he underlined that the problem was not linked only to the drivers, who still consider themselves privileged given the numerous comforts, but above all to all those team members who work behind the scenes on the cars.
“Looking to the future, we need to reconsider race weekends, because there are more and more events, year after year. Weekends start earlier. We’re continuing to add races to the calendar and we’re getting to a point where I think everything seems a little repetitive, that you’re trying to do too many things. I want to be constructive about what I think, I think they are doing a lot to try to make this sport better. But on the other hand, we have to reconsider the ways in which we construct the weekend because it all seems repetitive,” the Spaniard explained.
“We pilots are privileged, we fly business or first class, we go to the best hotels, we arrive in the city on Tuesday or Wednesday, not Monday. I don’t like speaking from a privileged position like the one we drivers have, even if it’s true that we are under more pressure than ever, we have many events with the media, but I think that within the team, with so many people traveling, we [piloti] we are in a privileged position.”
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari SF-23, Ferrari SF-23 in the garage
“I don’t like to complain, but I think 24 races is the limit with this type of calendar we have now. Many teams are creating plans to rotate the mechanics, the engineers. Let’s see where this sport is going and what the ideas are for the future, because I strongly believe that there must be changes to the weekend format or the way we deal with the media, because 24 races I think is the limit, both for the drivers and for all the people within the team,” added Sainz.
In fact, even among the riders, we are starting to feel the fatigue of such a complex and demanding season from a physical point of view. Russell battled a cough described as “horrendous” all weekend while in his Mercedes. An aspect that made it even more difficult to drive his car, given the few opportunities to breathe deeply, especially in high-speed corners.
“I was probably coughing four times a lap, so it was pretty painful. I have been very ill for the last two weeks. First in Las Vegas with a strong fever, I couldn’t sleep and I felt terrible. Then I had a horrible cough that stayed with me all week and in the car. I coughed every ride, but when you’re tied to the car you can’t breathe. You can’t take a deep breath to get the cough out,” the Briton explained.
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