F1 needs to be ‘clever’ about planned calendar expansion - Steiner

Formulꦉa 1 “needs to be clever” about how it handles plans to expand the calendar beyond the current 21-race format, acco🍌rding to Haas chief Guenther Steiner.

F1 owner Liberty Media has made it clear it wants to expand the amount of grands prix on the calendar, with new events in Vietnam and Miami set to be added in the coming years. It is understood a return to the Afric✅an continent is a priority for the sport’s bosses, while a second r🅰ace in China is also being mooted.

F1 needs to be ‘clever’ about calendar expansion - Steiner

Formula 1 “needs to be clever” about how it handles plans to expand the calendar beyond the current 21-race format, accordinꦫg to Haas chief Guenther Steiner.

F1 owner Liberty Media has made it clear it wants to expand the amount of grands prix on the calendar, with new events in Vietnam and Miami set to be added in the coming years. It is understood a return to the African contine❀nt is a priority for the sport’s bosses🐼, while a second race in China is also being mooted.

Speaking in the build-up to this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix, 💃Steiner highlighted his concerns with additional race🎐s not necessarily being “productive” for all involved.

Referencing comments made by Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost that he does not have a problem with extra races, Steiner replied: “I care about the families, because the🌄n the people working are happy.

“I think if we reorganised a little bit the weekend, how we run it, we maybe could make some savings there. With days a𒀰t the track.

“We cannot save days but we can adjust it a little bit. ꧋I agree with Franz, if the new races bring financial benefits, why not do it?

“But we need to be clever ab𝓡out it and try to find the days somewhere else. Just putting more and more on is maybe not productive.

“Also, we need to be careful what the spectator wants. In general, if we can make the weekends a little bit shorter for the peo☂ple that work here, I think we can do a few more races.🌳”

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says calendﷺar saturation would force teams to re-think how 𒅌they go about racing, and result in more personnel rotation throughout the season.

“Saturation is something that needs to be 𝔉considered,” Wolff explained.

“Formula 1 is exclusive and adding more races is not adding to the e🤪xclusivit♔y factor.

“On the other hand, we are all asking Liberty to increase revenue and doing mo𓄧re races is obviously the biggest leverage in that respect.

“In my opinion it’s a fine balance. 🌱We need to respect that, at the moment, the travelling population, all the race team, is pretty flat out.

“I don’t think you can really do much more than 21 races. 🌟You need to work with a second shift. We have started💎 to rotate a little bit – but then you can’t really rotate the very senior personnel.

“So, if we do more races, my opinion is that it needs to be linked with more income and spectacular💜 new tracks or markets that we open up. That would be important.”

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