19 races is too few, not too many

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Too many F1 races? There's no such thing...

After the 2010 F1 calendar was announced I was surprised to see the poor reception it got from some F1 journalists. Ed Gorman of The Times complained:

In my view that is too long and about two races too many.

I couldn’t disagree more. I say a bigger calendar is a better one.

Another writer voicing an objection to the length of the calendar and the increased number of events outside Europe is Grandprix.com’s Joe Saward:

F1 journalism is fast becoming prohibitively expensive. The core of F1 freelances – the people who have the experience – are up to their necks in the costs and many are starting to stay at home. Last year in Japan there was a tiny international press corps and it will be interesting to see how things are this year.

He points out the growing costs that F1 journalists have to face while their margins are increasingly put under pressure by rival sites.

I’m not indifferent to those problems (being made to pay $150 for such essentials as an internet connection is obviously disgraceful), nor the wider challenges journalists face from a difficult economy and rapidly-changing media.

But I think it’s far more important F1 has a decent-sized calendar to increase viewer interest. And when I say ‘decent-sized’, I don’t mean edging up to 20 rounds, I mean pushing towards 30.

F1 should look at how football saturates our screens and take note that when more matches are on, more people are watching (and, of course, more people buy newspapers and visit websites with football coverage).

If F1 is in a state where its journalists, who should have a vested interest in its success and popularity, are arguing against expanding it, then something is clearly wrong.

As ever, the root of all evil in F1 is the vast amount of money being sucked out of the sport to service the debt of owners CVC. That’s why journalists and race promoters alike are being gouged for ridiculous sums of money which seem increasingly unsustainable in the long-term.

This is a complicated problem, but I don’t believe the solution is to have fewer races.

Besides which, I enjoy F1 and I want more races on the calendar. Anyone disagree?

Read more: 2010 F1 calendar

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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114 comments on “19 races is too few, not too many”

  1. You’ve got nothing but agreement from me, but maybe 26 rather than 30

    1. I think 30 races maybe over doing it a little. I think there should be 25 races in a season, 1 race every 2 weeks with a months break of the christmas period.

      1. I agree with you Macca, 25 sounds perfect… but then if Gorman and Saward are complaining about the financial costs they undergo, married fans will have to start counting the cost on their marriage and family time if it goes over 20 weekends a year… especially those who are hooked. so i say keep it as it is…that’s my final answer, although god knows i wouldn’t mind having a race every weekend of the year….but then again that is what put me off Nascar so many years ago…that and the sheer number of cars…

      2. Yeah, agree that 25 races is just nice, we can put the September to March races in the Southern Hemisphere or the tropics and still keep the classic European races from April to August.

        Another point to mention is that maybe there be a format similar to MotoGP, with Formula 3, Formula 2 (or GP2) and Formula 1 races run on the same day. Some places don’t have F3 or F2 and GP2, like Singapore, so practically no one was watching the support races (Formula BMW, Astons and Porsche Carrera Cup)…

        1. maybe there be a format similar to MotoGP, with Formula 3, Formula 2 (or GP2) and Formula 1 races run on the same day.

          Doesn’t NASCAR do something similar as well?

          I like the idea of having consistent, quality support packages. GP2 is obviously great but we don’t get it every weekend (this weekend and next, for example). I could live without the Porsche Supercup though.

    2. Why not double the number of races (currently 19) with 2 races per track, like GP2 or A1GP. Keep the 3 day format but put the Qs on Sat morning and Sprint race on Sat afternoon. Run the long race on Sun afternoon/night with reverse starting order of the top 8 Sprint finishers.

      A reverse grid order would spice up the Sun main race and encourage overtaking of the slower cars in the front of the grid by the Sprint winners.

      The costs per journalist would stay the same but much more buzz/hype to report about. The costs of moving between tracks stay the same. TV gets more commercials time. Newspapers get more hype for their weekend Sunday paper (read about the Sat sprint in the Sun morning paper and set the stage for the Sun afternoon main race).

      Can’t fathom why Bernie/Max haven’t done this years ago?

  2. I’m completely with you on this Keith! I’ll always long for the year that we’ll have F1 races pusing up to 30!
    After every weekend race, my appetite as i await the next race is an excrutiating hunger as i count the days, hours, minutes & seconds till the green lights!

  3. why not have some novity events – i.e. give the ‘reserve’ drivers a race.

    Most teams do atleast one demo a year anyway.

    This could be combined with a testing weekend and the tickets flogged off cheap(er). Flog the footage on the internet and everyone wins.

  4. I think we need to have 2 races per week :) No winter break. That would make my very happy :)

  5. If they increase the total number of races to about 30, we’ll be losing a lot of small teams that can’t afford to keep up. I don’t think it’s the wisest of ideas right now.

    In the future, maybe.

  6. We need much more races! Australia feels like 5 minutes ago. And look at this year’s championship; the title contenders have simply run out of races to catch Button. It won’t help cut costs, will prolong the season’s development race and might be tricky for the smaller teams but they could gradually keep increasing the number of races to help ease into it. I’m all for it…even if it means another ten Tilke tracks or so lol

  7. HounslowBusGarage
    25th September 2009, 9:37

    I think Ed Gorman’s complaints centre on the cost of keeping up with the series and the travelling time he has to put in. If you read his Blog-thing, he always seems to have ‘adventures’ in getting from home to racetrack and back again.
    I’m not totally in favour of increasing the number of races beyond 20 or so. As Xibi says, it would cause the smaller teams greater cost burdens, and it would also dilute the spectacle slightly. I like Christmas, but I’m damn glad it only happens once a year!
    Look at the NFL in the States; the Season starts in September and it’s all over by the end of January, but the fans rave about it all year long. The games are in limited supply, and that’s what keeps their value so high.
    20 races is enough, otherwise we’ll start to have even more bizarre and remote host locations – Grand Prix of Guatemala, anyone?

    1. If it’s not designed by tilke.. sure. I’ll take a race in iraq if the design is cool. Might be a bit of a strecth but you get it. I say race in the mountains, that way you can have corners that would make eau rough look like a walk in the park.

    2. Hounslow, if you mention the NFL, you’re a winner in my book!!! For as much as I love Formula 1, I don’t think any sport will ever overtake the NFL in my book :)

      As a league, the NFL gets a great deal right in many areas, from rules and regulations to promotion and marketing. They have 16 games per season- with only one off week- then the playoffs. There has been some talk about expanding the season, but I woulden;t agree with it- 16 games against top-level hitting is about as tough of a challenge as you’ll find in sports.

      The league dose a good deal of keeping traditional rivalries in the same divisions, and the salary cap (which may be in trouble after next year) dose a godo job of keeping a level playing field. That;s why you see a team like Pittsburgh- in a small market- win championships agaisnt teams in big cities like NYC, Dallas, and Philly.

      Ah, F1 and the NFL…Sundays just can’t get better on the sports front this time of the year:)

  8. In trying to keep costs down, it does seem strange to lengthen the GP calendar. More races would be great but is it sustainable for the smaller teams?

  9. Have the 19 rounds as planned, then tag on another 11 races at Spa – obviously to annoy the locals, and because it’s awesome :D

    1. I am with you Richard :)
      I spend (not wasted) 6 months of my life hotlapping Spa in Grand Prix 2 in 1988 with a best of 1.47.low cannot remember now but that was enough for 3rd overall in a worldwide competition. I still miss the bus stop shicane :)

      1. You’ve missed something Adams!

        God > Infinity :)

        1. FFS leave it alone

      2. GP2…them were the days.

    2. tag on another 11 races at Spa – obviously to annoy the locals

      Definitely!

  10. I was surprised to see the poor reception it got from some F1 journalists. Ed Gorman of The Times complained

    He likes sails, no engines at all.

    I’m with you, Keith, for that case, “less is not more” (with the permission of Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe, of course)

    1. with the permission of Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe

      One of the more high-brow references we’ve had on F1 Fanatic for a while! Am off to read about modernist architecture now…

  11. Of course we fans want more races. But it is equally obvious why a segment of the F1 world is complaining. The F1 journalists are seeing increasing costs but no increase in income. They have to buy more hotel rooms, more plane tickets… but how much is their salary going to go up? None. I would complain too.

    But I think this is a symptom of what is happening in journalism. It is hard for these journalists to make money when we fans get our news from free websites and refuse to pay subscriptions to racing publications.

    1. But I think this is a symptom of what is happening in journalism. It is hard for these journalists to make money when we fans get our news from free websites and refuse to pay subscriptions to racing publications.

      I agree totally – but it’s not a good reason to keep the calendar small.

  12. I don’t think that any more than about 23 races a year is doable. The 2010 calendar runs from March 14th to November 14th: 8 months. This is already a full month longer than the 2009 calendar, which is March 29 to November 1.

    The first issue is how much longer the calendar can reasonably be. An 8 month race schedule only gives the teams a minimum of 4 months to work full-out on next year’s car. Also, as the season stretches earlier into March and later into November, there are fewer venues that will have reasonable weather.

    So if an 8 month calendar is the longest we can tolerate, the only option left is to shorten the time between races. The teams really want that August month off, so it’s off limits. Other than that, the week off between some races could be eliminated, but it’s a real effort for the teams to get everything moved in such a short amount of time, and I expect they’d complain loudly if they had to do it often in a season. I remember reading that McLaren had people working round-the-clock to get the “motorhome” moved from Valencia to Spa in 3 days.
    Also, 3 races in 3 weeks simply wouldn’t fly with the teams, so for one week to open up, two other races must lose their buffer. It would make the season a real grind, and I think anyone who travels to the races (i.e. not bloggers) would be pretty unhappy by the time Abu Dhabi rolls around.

    1. 1)Shorted the event to two days a week Sat+Sun only

      2)have semi-permanent bases at the track

      3) put a limit on the things you can take to a GP (no fancy motorhomes etc.)

      4) reduce the number of team members travelling

      5) no tyre change, no refuelling, no service at all. if your car breaks, you have to push it yourself if 100m from the flag :)

      6) no fancy parties

      7) have two events on Sundays a lottory based driver-team allocation with reduced max rpm and a normal one :)

      8) artifical random rain to help the FIA cheat when it suits them to keep the show interesting.

      9) kick out Williams and their lack of honour.

      10) bring back Ron and Flav immediately after Max leaves :)

      1. if your car breaks, you have to push it yourself if 100m from the flag

        There are no rules no drivers now for repeating what Mansel did at Mexico!

        1. There are no rules no drivers now for repeating what Mansel did at Mexico!

          I don’t remember him fainting at mexico, but I fully remember him fainting at Dallas in 1984.

          mansell faints at 9:30

          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjI8leOhJUw&feature=related

          1. fainting at mexico, but I fully remember him fainting at Dallas in 1984.

            I’m an old man not using internet…

            Dallas, sure.

          2. Dallas..Mexico.. whats the diff

      2. Williams??? I don’t beleive you even say that!!!

    2. Yup completely agree with Brendan and gazzap it’s a matter of feasability and what is realistically doable

  13. The easiest way to increase the size of the calender without pushing travelling costs through the roof is simple.
    Have as many Euro GP’s as possible.
    Jurez Imola 2 German races Silverstone and Donnigton Magny-Cours and this new one they’re building.
    As well as that have an Asian GP season where we do the eastern tracks, followed by Middle eastern followed by european followed by american. Make it possible for as much of the circus as possible to do as little traveling as possible.

    But yes I back Keiths point 30 GP’s and a race every weekend! Simply coz i want to be watching f1 all the time

    1. Other than Japan and Austrailia all the other far east tracks are boring..I have not seen S.Korea though.

  14. as long as the quality of the races is suitable to justify more events.

  15. Have to agree with Brendan. Its easy for fans who maybe go to 3 races a season to say they want more and more but those who fly to every race would find 30 races unacceptable. this isn’t like football where you turn up for a couple of hours then go home. This is 4 days away from home and families.

    But I think a compromise is required. 23 races sounds plausible. What I dont like is 3 week gaps in the schedule. 2 weeks maximum would be OK for 8 months with that 4 week gap in August. If they put say France and Belgium together then they could be just one week apart.

    1. I don’t get why it isn’t feasible. Nascar does it. It may only be in the us but they drive there. It takes about 4 days from coast to coast to MOVE that stuff, it then needs set up. Are you saying nascar is better than f1, are we lazy!!

      1. NASCAR races multiple times a year on the same tracks. That’s not what people have in mind by “more” races.

        Most NASCAR races are clumped in the Southeast. In any event, they are not going coast to coast every week–more like driving a few hours from Richmond to Bristol, including a leisurely stop for chicken and waffles.

        Truck travel is cheap. Jumbo jet travel is not.

        Most teams are based in the geographic center of most races.

        NASCAR is not a constructor’s series, whatever the clowns waving Chevy and anti-Toyota banners in the stands think. F1 teams design and build and develop, this is an exciting and essential part of the team competition, and they need time to do that during the season. And you need time at the end of the season to develop a new car.

        Finally, you need time off for summer holidays and winter holidays for people who work flat out, weekends, travel constantly. Forcing people either to work like machines or get fired is the American way, but only the American way.

        A NASCAR type schedule is totally impractical for F1 and inconsistent with the core elements of the sport.

        1. You should really cut your “American way” junk- and many of those “clowns” in the stands keep a close eye on the F1 happeneings as well.

          As for the design, there’s much less of an element of that in NASCAR, but teams still design each car a bit differently..do you really think they run the exact same car at Bristol and Dover as they do at Watkins Glen and Infinion, do you?

          The NASCAR guys like the 36-plus races….if woulden’t work for F1, and they would be the first to admit that. So don’t rip on something that works just because it’s not what you think is the best.

          1. Gman I agree with you partly. Nascar is the same car shell for all team and a different paint job and engine. Most every team is located within 30 miles of Charlotte, NC. I have many friends in the sport that work there and they enjoy what they do.
            For every clown up there that keeps up with formula 1 there are 50-75 that wouldnt know what a f1 car was..if it has open wheels they are all indycars or f1 cars and they could care less.
            They do have as you described different cars for different tracks, superspeedway cars for daytona, taladega and such. short track cars for bristol and others and then a medium speed track like atlanta and charlotte. Each type car is built for a particular track condition.

            F1 teams would have a hard time competing at more than 20 races a year I believe unless f1 goes to a universal car and the only difference is the paint and the engine.

            That would not be formula1 would it.

    2. Its easy for fans who maybe go to 3 races a season to say they want more and more but those who fly to every race would find 30 races unacceptable. this isn’t like football where you turn up for a couple of hours then go home. This is 4 days away from home and families.

      That’s a fair point. But there’s no reason (apart from cost) why the teams couldn’t rotate many of the staff members they send out to races – apart from people like the drivers, of course.

      One could argue that as long as the calendar size keeps creeping up slowly, teams will continue to keep covering it with the same number of staff. But if Ecclestone announced today, “OK, in 2011 we’ll have 30 races”, teams would have time to take the decision to hire extra staff.

  16. Prisoner Monkeys
    25th September 2009, 10:19

    I think the most you could reasonably get away with is 25 or 26, one race a fortnight. A lot of those would have the be back-to-back, but I see no reason why you couldn’t pair Singapore with Sepang, Monaco with Italy, Abu Dhabi with Bahrain, Brazil with a race in Argentina or even go for a Japan-Korea-China trifecta.

  17. One of the potential problems that hasn’t been mentioned, is that in any sport each additional round that you count towards a championship reduces the relative importance of every round in the overall points scheme.

    What I mean is, that drivers already have little incentive to pass on the track for an additional 1 or 2 points; and those points will mean even less if substantially more points are available throughout the season. I suppose that one solution would be to increase the points difference between positions, which should be done anyway, but in a 30 race calendar, that difference would have to become, I think, quite dramatic in order to maintain a competitive intensity.

    Actually, having more teams may also potentially lower racing quality: is there really a decent enough talent pool out there to adequately fill 26 positions on the grid at this level of competition? I certainly won’t claim to know, but it is a question worth considering.

    In theory, I like both the ideas of more races and more teams. We’ll find out how the new arrivals fare next season, and how the ban on refueling affects racing. As for more races – it would have to be very well thought through. Because the combination of more cars at more races, although it may sound like fun, could very well dilute the quality of the sport to an important degree.

    Any thoughts?

    1. Look, you dilute the brand by having to many races. Each race must matter. If you’ve got 20 races viewers can miss a few and say whatever there is one on next week. ‘So Maciek your instincts are right no more races.

      And Keith I’m highly disappointed that you would even make such an absurd suggestion, you gotta keep that desire burning.

  18. Totally agree, the more the merrier… I understand the costs, but it also has its profits (TV, merchandising, sponsor exposure…)
    Bring back classic tracks suit up for today’s regulations and new tracks like Roma and New York (Portugal – Algarve International Track) – that, my friends, would be really what’s F1 about – show business!

  19. I don’t mean edging up to 20 rounds, I mean pushing towards 30.

    Knowing our luck it’ll be 30 GPs and still not one in the USA. :D

    It would be nice to see more. Probably around 20 to 25. As long as they are spread nicely across the viewing audience.
    How about get a extra GP in:
    USA
    Argentina
    South Africa
    Russia
    India
    France
    Poland

    That makes 26.

    1. I like all the new countries you’ve mentioned, esp. the USA :)

  20. Change the current scoring system to give the top 15 drivers points as follows:

    P1——–25
    P2——–20
    P3——–16
    P4——–13
    P5——–11
    P6——–10
    P7——–9
    P8——–8
    P9——–7
    P10——-6
    P11——-5
    P12——-4
    P13——-3
    P14——-2
    P15——-1

    And 5 points for Pole.

    And ALL penalties are served within the race itself or shortly after with time penelties in 5s increments not 25s ones.

    1. Horrible idea. Your point scoring system would encourage the drives race even less than the current one. You see 10/8 = 25/20 = 5/4 so the driver who wins the race wouldn’t get relatively any more points than he does now. Also, since in your system positions 9-15 give points, that would make winning even less important. The best system would be: 15-10-7-5-4-3-2-1

      1. I see you proint and I agree with you, in this case Pole gets 2 points, fastest gets 1 and leading most lapd gets 1 so a max of 14 points is possible for one driver.

        1. here have a point for being lapped, and finishing ….15th!
          Horrid idea!
          I can never understand some series hand out points in the hundreds per round, like 300 for a win and so on down the list to 200th place, 20laps behind winner. Inflation in $$ is worthless and so is in points for nothing.

          I would like to see more races, less gap between the rounds though…but I would love to see the fia develop a true world formular class that each country / region can compete in with equal cars to provide a legitimate feeder series, and also provide a great bio-diverse driver population into the sport.

          And to take a football approach you could almost have a relegation concept where if a team were to gain less than a min amount of points for a season(rather than just finishing last to provide some stability) then one of feeder teams could then have a ticket into the main game(or trade/lease at their discretion and fia aproval).

          Apart from cost cutting the fia needs to look into development not only for the series but also motorsport around the whole world.

          1. The last thing F1 needs now is more fiddling and changing of the points system!

            We have got rid of the medals ideas (forever hopefully) so lets just leave the points the way they are! top 8 getting points with 26 or 28 cars on the grid next season will be fine.

      2. Both scoring systems are still not there. I would say 10-6-5-4-3-2-1 and give a half point for pole. Nothing for leading a lap unless its the last lap. Nothing for fastest lap as it means nothing to have the fastest lap of the race and come in 8th.
        You have to make winning weighted heavily unless you want to get a lead and ride it to the fininsh.

  21. I think the comparison to football is a bit out of proportion. Football encompasses all the different leagues, F1 is just the premier league, and I’ve heard it said that there are too many matches in the Premier league of football. Not everybody watches every football match, if the quantity of races were to increase to the numbers booted about here then not everybody will be watching all the races. Currently its nice to be able to balance life & Formula 1 and look forward to the next race and make time to watch it all.

    Personally, I feel low 20’s would be acceptable, and also to limit the weekend to Sat/Sun with the Friday as an open practice day. Off-Season testing limited by mileage. For Practice on Fridays and Off-Season should allow any driver also, not just the current race drivers.

  22. Also, Football is one on one… how many races would we need if we were to employ a one-on-one system and make sure that everybody raced everybody else… twice!

    How many football matches would you need, if all the teams played at the same time?

    Irrelevant comparison imo. Sorry Keith.

    1. I don’t mean F1 should have as many races as football has individual matches – that would be crazy!

      But during the football season it’s unusual for there not to be a round of some football competition once per week. F1 might not be able to quite match that because of the logistics, but I’d like to see it get a lot closer.

      1. I see your logic Keith, but I prefer the alternative weekends (mostly) approach. Suits me better, less hassle from her indoors ;-)

        I still think low 20’s is a good balance.

  23. 23 is a pure prime as its digits are primes and their sum 2+3=5 is prime too :)

    So 23 it is then.

    And all extra revenue for all races above 20 purely go the teams not BE or CVC including track contact TV etc.

    Ali
    God > infinity

  24. It’s relatively easy to find 32 Grands Prix to fill the F1 calendar:

    Amerian Leg:
    1. Canadian Grand Prix, Montréal
    2. United States Grand Prix, Elkhart Lake
    3. Indianapolis Grand Prix, Indianapolis
    4. Long Beach Grand Prix, Long Beach
    5. Mexican Grand Prix, Monterrey / Mexico City
    6. Brazilian Grand Prix, Sao Paulo
    7. Argentine Grand Prix, Buenos Aires, San Luiz

    European Leg
    8. British Grand Prix, Silverstone, Donington
    9. Dutch Grand Prix, Zandvoort
    10. Belgian Grand Prix, Spa-Francorchamps
    11. French Grand Prix, Magny-Cours / Le Castellet
    12. Spanish Grand Prix, Barcelona, Valencia
    13. Monaco Grand Prix, Monte Carlo
    14. Italian Grand Prix, Monza, Imola
    15. Austrian Grand Prix, Spielberg (A1 Ring)
    16. Hungarian Grand Prix, Budapest
    17. German Grand Prix, Hockenheim / Nurburgring / Lausitzring
    18. Russian Grand Prix, Moscow / St. Petersburg

    Asian/Pacific leg
    19. Indian Grand Prix, Uttar Pradesh / Madras
    20. Chinese Grand Prix, Shanghai / Zhuhai / Beijing
    21. Korean Grand Prix, Yeongam / Changwon
    22. Japanese Grand Prix, Suzuka / Fuji
    23. Taiwanese Grand Prix, Yinglim (although the Chinese might nog like that)
    24. Malaysian Grand Prix, Kuala Lumpur
    25. Indonesian Grand Prix, Bogor (Sentul)
    26. Australian Grand Prix, Melbourne / Adelaide / Eastern Creek

    Middle East/African Leg
    27. African Grand Prix, Cape Town / Kyalami
    28. Emirates Grand Prix, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
    29. Bahrain Grand Prix, Manama
    30. Egyptian Grand Prix, Cairo
    31. Lebanese Grand Prix, Beirut
    32. Turkish Grand Prix, Istanbul

    1. Lustigson you forgot Iraq in the US leg :) :) :)

    2. Indian Grand Prix, Uttar Pradesh / Madras

      LOL!! Madras is considered to be the dirtiest city in the world. I’ve seen it myself 7 I’ve taken a vow never to go there ever!! Horrible Horrible place! The first think that greets you as soon as you land at the madras airport is the smell of urine! You need to go there to experience it! Yuck ! Sucks! And the worst part is that the average temp is always above 40C & that to sticky humidity will make anyone puke. Madras is a horrible place. have a look for yourself:-

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ld1FaUy-6Y

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fY_gBdEmeo8

      1. Yeah, India is a developing country, and the contrasts between rich and poor can be shocking. But, have you actually seen it, or is youtube your reference? Did you take the time to look at what kind of racist tripe comments those videos attract? And what kind of “photojournalist” focuses on stuff like this and adds that kind of music?

        By the by, London used to be the dirtiest stinkiest, most diseased city in Europe – didn’t stop it from becoming the financial capital of the world at the same time, though. All our countries had their time of living in ****, no exceptions there.

    3. Prisoner Monkeys
      25th September 2009, 11:32

      Wait, why should America get three races?

      And while thirty-two Grands Prix would be cool, I doubt the Powers That Be would like it.

      1. America would actually get 7… ;)

        1. I’d love it, but even I must admit it woulden’t be completely fair ;)

    4. 23. Taiwanese Grand Prix, Yinglim (although the Chinese might not like that)

      You think? :-)

    5. I think this really sums it up.
      I would absolutely love to see a 30+ race calendar. A race every week or two almost all year round.

  25. While I would like more races my initial reaction is that 30 would be too many. I think 20 seems about right but then that might just be because it is a nice round number so I prefer it to 19.

    I understand that in the old Concorde agreement there was a clause that if there were more than a certain number of Grand Prix each season Ecclestone had to pay the teams more money for each additional race. I can’t remember the number and does anyone know if it is supposed to be in the new agreement.

    I have heard comments in the past that the teams don’t think that an increase in the number of races is feasible for them, if there were 30 races then teams would almost certainly need 2 race teams rather than have one set of mechanics etc go to every event and that is unlikely with F1 looking at cutting costs.

    For the regular people in F1 such as mechanics or journalists a 30 race calendar and all the time away from home and family would be very hard apart from the additional costs involved.

  26. Actually I disagree, even though I could easily fill a fantasy F1 calendar with 30 different venues. Maciek is right to point out that more races dilutes the importance of each one, both to the drivers and to the fans.

    You argue (paraphrasing) that “more people watch football when there are more matches on” – although you admitted only a couple of days ago that you’re not into football at all – but I disagree. I watch World Cup and (often) European Championship internationals, which are only three weeks in every two years; I occasionally watch the FA Cup final and, if an English team is playing, matches in the last two or three rounds of the Champions’ League. But I almost never bother with the Premiership, or earlier stages of the other competitions I mentioned. There are just so many matches that the chances of seeing one on which the whole season hinges, or a highlight moment that people will still be talking about in two weeks’ time, is pretty small. I don’t want to devote hundreds of hours of my year to watching the inconsequential addition of a few points here and there, week after week after week.

    Ed Gorman is always complaining about the travel and the journalist’s lot – which seems a little ungrateful as a staffer (as opposed to the freelancers, with whom I sympathise) – and not infrequently misinterprets events in his articles, occasionally getting things plain wrong. I still read his blog, and his newspaper usually, but his knowledge and ability as an F1 reporter haven’t developed as much as I’d expected after his switch from being the sailing correspondent about three years ago.

    1. although you admitted only a couple of days ago that you’re not into football at all

      True, but I follow some of it because it’s often relevant to what’s going on in F1.

  27. Is it logistically possible though?

    Middle East/African Leg
    27. African Grand Prix, Cape Town / Kyalami

    Kyalami is way to small to host a race. We do have the SBK and A1, but the pit area is way to small to fit all those trucks and things.

    I think if SA wants to host a F1 Grand Prix, they should build a new track with new facilities to accommodate EVERYTHING inside the track, possibly even based on the old Kyalami.

  28. I dont think the points system needs overhauling. lots more points for a win and I think points awarded down to probably 10th place and yes a point for pole and even fastest lap. In the US they give points for most laps led as well, though I am not sure about that one.

    Giving points for pole will make every driver go for it rather than having different strategies. less likely without refuelling admittedly. point(s) for fastest lap would make drivers go hell for leather right to the end of the race and would make for better racing.

  29. sorry, that should say I DO think the points system needs overhauling.

  30. 19 races is enough. The reason why I don’t watch football (except World Cup) is that there are too many games. When there are too many games/races, there just isn’t tension left cause one game/race doesn’t matter that much anymore. Also, if we had a race every week, I’d get bored even though I consider myself a formula fan. When there are 19 races in a season, we’ll be waiting every race like a children on Christmas morning.

  31. As a fan, I’d like to see Grand Prix on television more often – but there are two big issues that adding significantly more races would present.

    The first and most obvious is the financial cost to teams and others. Shipping up to 28 cars around the globe, plus all the people needed to support them, plus the circus that follows F1, is expensive as it is. In an era where costs need to be reduced, adding an extra 12 races would be crazy.

    Secondly, there’s the impact on team personnel. 30 races per year means one GP every week between late March and early October. The logistics involved in moving teams around means that most team members wouldn’t get much time away from being at race tracks or travelling to them. The intensity of the schedule could be mitigated by an earlier start and later finish, but not by much. These people have families and probably have enough trouble seeing them during the season.

  32. I am against 30 races a year.
    It is just like making the Football World Cup or Euro more frequent. You have to wait 4 years between 2 world cup Finals: that make them so important.
    With races every week and 300 points to be taken: you can afford to spin out, crash etc every now and then, you now there will be enough races to catch up.
    Where is the tension, the committment ?

    18-20-22 That would be nice.

    Besides: 30 races probably would mean 6-8 classics and 22 Tilkedromes.

    1. you can afford to spin out, crash etc every now and then, you now there will be enough races to catch up.

      Why is that a bad thing? Do we want to see drivers backing off and taking safe points, or do we want to see them risking overtaking moves?

      It is just like making the Football World Cup or Euro more frequent. You have to wait 4 years between 2 world cup Finals: that make them so important.

      No, what makes them important is that they involve countries rather than clubs and their business interests.

      1. I have to disagree partly here, while events such as the World Cup and the Olympics will always be special because they are the pinnacle in sport, the fact that they are only once every four years make them even more important.

        Take the Olympics as an example, a sportsman will probably get to compete in about three of them in their entire career, I know there are plenty of examples of people competing in more but then they need to be at the top of their profession for at least 12 years. And even then they could be struck down by injury for that one year in four.

        Look at someone like Paula Radcliffe for most of this decade she would probably be ranked the best female marathon runner in the world but because of circumstances such injury and local conditions she hasn’t won Olympic Gold.

        If the Olympics were every year it would lose something for both the people competing and the spectators.

        1. Does it increase the importance of those events or marginalise the importance of lesser ones?

          I say this as someone who’ll watch the World Cup but not the Premier League.

    2. probably true. Some of the mentioned possibilities are sad to be kind. In The Us I would like to se Indy dropped and Laguna Seca,and Road America put in its place with the race alternating if it couldnt be held at both.

  33. What I’d like to be changed is the one race per country philosophy.
    England should have even up to 3 races: Silverstone + Donington + Brands Hatch.
    They deserve it, don’t they?
    The British GP, the English GP, and the UK GP. :)

    Well, the calendar deserves to have great tracks.

    1. Grated Britain you mean :)

      1. Oh, of course, that’s what I meant.

  34. You can’t compare soccer with F1. For example, in Premier Leaguer there are 38 rounds and many other in Champions League. Just about one round per weeke. But all the games are played in England.
    In F1, this week you have to fly in Singapore, next week in Japan, and after 2 weeks in Brazil.
    I don’t think it’s easy and/or cheap for journalists.

  35. I totally agree with you, Keith
    25-28 races would be fine.

    BTW. Who cares about Joe Sawards costs!

  36. I support gwenouille. If you increase the number of races you lose their importance.
    I think 20 is enough, but you should cut off some awful races (Bahrein, Singapore, Valencia) and bring back some good tracks in Argentina, USA, France…

  37. I’m not so sure it would benefit Formual 1 to run 30 races. I could see the benefit in running perhaps a US and maybe another South American and a couple more returns to Europe, but 30 Races is a big increase in logistics for all involved.
    The problem is that CVC (Bernie) will run out of exploitable markets, this will mean diminished returns on new or already exploited areas. There is probably an equilibrium number of races by where the maximum return is gained without costs spiralling and that number is around 20 GP’s.
    Make no mistake CVC are only in this for the money and they are pretty much calling all the commercial calls now. For those that don’t know CVC own pretty much all of F1’s commercial interests, controlling all TV Feeds, Advertising at each track (excluding Monaco), F1 brand, Team and Driver name use rights ansolutley everything, F1 declared revenues in excess of £1billion euros for 2008, it would have to be seriousley worthwhile to increase the number of races.
    I think that in terms of costs for Journos perhaps CVC could dig deep and offer some kind of concessional travel and accomodation for those covering and giving exposure to the sport.
    For me I would struggle to find the time on many more Fridays to catch practices, and Saturday Qualis.

  38. NASCAR increased the number of races per year, and attendance and viewership went DOWN. Mkaing F1 races more common would dilute their `speciality’ and therefore, appeal.

    1. You have a point, but I think what pulled down the attendance more than anything was having so many venues host two races a year, plus the removal of some of the sport’s classic tracks. NASCAR has made a bigpush to open up in new markets such as LA and Chicago…but when two races a year at Fontana and Chicagoland came on, and places like Rockingham and North Wilkesboro went away entirely…the old guard of NASCAR fans weren’t pleased. And for the newer tracks, it’s not easy to fill up for 2 races when you have trouble with just one.

      2 races a year is fine at Daytona, Talladega, Bristol, and of course Charlotte. But having some of the others twice can be a bit of a hassle.

      Lastly, some of those new tracks are more than a bit boring….NASCAR’s own version of “Tilkedromes” ;) That explains why the viewership numbers soar for a race like Bristol, then slump for Texas and Fontana and the like.

      1. You now see what happens to a series when it gets super sucessful and then forgets about its roots. You are right about attendence and viewership is down in nascar and that has the promoters as well as the sponsors concerned. When you trade loyalty for money you loose both. When some of these countries grow tired of f1 or bernie and they tell f1 to bugger off wht is the sport going to do, go back to the old tracks..what if they are now too busy or closed down because bernie turned his back on them..this is the price of uneeded progress and charting new ground in countries that have never shown a real interest.

  39. It’s hard to disagree with the wants of the fans, and the fact that Ecclestone wants to bring in new circuits such as the one in Korea for 2010. This has always caused problems because it means older, more well known circuits have been culled to make room for the new ones.
    I can understand the problems with costs, for the teams and the fans and journalists. With so many ‘flyaway’ races on the calender, the costs have naturally soured. Its far cheaper for everybody when the races are in Europe.
    For the teams, they can haul the cars and equipment by road instead of in a jumbo jet, far reducing their costs. For the fans, they have more choices of travel other than by airplane.
    For most diehards, the classic circuits like Monza, Spa, Imola, and Silverstone are what attracted them to F1 in the first place. It is finding that balance between satisfying the traditional F1 fan, and the new ones attracted by races such as China, Singapore, and Abu Dhabi that is key.
    In America, NASCAR found out that offending the fanatic race fan, loyal to their brand, is an expensive mistake. Some were offended in the direction the France family took five years ago to attract new fans, and the sport started to see drops in tv ratings, aswell as up to a 25% drop in some track attendances.
    This is also largely down to the economy being so poor, but also to the fact that NASCAR has become too generic. With the so called ‘cookie cutter’ cars, with engines that are pretty much the same, just painted different colours.
    F1’s biggest strength is its uniqueness. Its heritage of different teams, with different engines and car designs.
    In many ways, it would not hurt to make some European races as back to back events, one week apart, more often. For example, have the British and Belgium grands prix a week apart, or Monza and Monaco a week apart. This would free up more time on the calender for the long haul races.
    I do believe that there should be a limit on the number of races, but I also believe that F1 should be in the Americas more than it is. Bringing back the Canadian round is a massive step forward, and if the sport could return to the USA, then it would be great. We forget, to our peril, the importance of South America.
    This region is a huge potential fanbase for F1. For a start. they have a rich heritage of drivers from Senna to Fittipaldi, Fangio to Montoya, who have competed successfully in F1. The hunger, I believe is still there, and extends beyond the borders of Brazil.

    1. I do believe that there should be a limit on the number of races, but I also believe that F1 should be in the Americas more than it is. Bringing back the Canadian round is a massive step forward, and if the sport could return to the USA, then it would be great. We forget, to our peril, the importance of South America.

      Absolutely, there’s so much passion for motor racing there. Let’s get Argentina and Mexico back.

    2. America will have more gp’s if you can get the money whore bernie out of the decision making end of the sport. The fia should pick the tracks with input from the teams, I bet you would be surprised what would go and what would either stay or come back.

  40. maybe off topic, but is it true that the British GP will be the same day as the World Cup final?
    Why on earth would anyone want to compete with a WC final for public attention!

    1. Yes, but they’re on at different times I think.

  41. There definatly shouldnt be any gaps over 2 weeks long between races. It sucks when theres ages till the next race. I also think 25 races.

    I dont see how more races = such a higher cost. The teams race to make money. The point about Journalists is a valid one but they dont seriously need to go to every race. Keith does a great job and I think he only goes to the British GP right? We actually only need Brundle to be there for his pit walk and the camera men :D

  42. I love the idea of more races. I get 36 in NASCAR Cup, 34 for NAtionwide and 25 for Trucks. I think 25 for F1 would be good and hey I am all for 30. Where I live (CA) They come on at 4am and I watch them at about 7 when I get up so works great for me.

    1. Cheers from the east coast- I believe you may be the first fan on here who openly admits watching NASCAR and F1- I know many who do, but don’t come on here :(

      The difference between having 36 Sprint Cup races and 36 Grands Prix is the travel distances..NASCAR dosen’t need to fly all that stuff all that far, nor are the races that far apart. In F1, as surely you know, I don;t think 36 would work quite as well.

  43. I have to disagree on this occaision. I would say 20 races would be the best limit.

    Yes, it “sucks” when there is a break, but for many of the engineers at the factory it is their only time off for the summer (I know a guy at Brawn CFD and he works his socks off the rest of the year… I don’t think he’ll be calling for 30 races!)

    Besides… do you really want Bernie to get even more money?!!!

    1. I remember Ron Dennis saying at the start of the year that if there were more than 20 races, they’d have to hire 2 race crews to ensure everyone gets the necessary rest to run for a whole season. That entails massive costs, which will be difficult for small teams to handle. That alone already makes it somewhat unfeasible.

      Also, regarding back-to-backs – I remember there were a lot of blog articles saying that the paddock wasn’t happy with the 4-races-in-5-weeks start we had this year due to jetlag and stress (which may explain why it’s gone for next year). It’s difficult to do back-to-backs for flyaway races because of the logistics involved. Also, Singapore is a bit tricky to do as a back-to-back – I think the crews will find it difficult to adjust to Japanese time. It’s only a 1 hour difference between Singapore and Japan, but because of the night race, they have to adjust by a whopping 8 hours – in less than a week!

      I agree with John to a ceiling of 20 races. Any more than that and the value of each race is diluted. The off-season has its upside too, as it builds up the anticipation for F1 fans (notice that most F1 websites have their highest traffic just before the start of a season). Without it, we might take F1 for granted.

      1. The off-season has its upside too, as it builds up the anticipation for F1 fans

        The off-season is a wasteland of inactivity. Best part of five months with basically nothing happening apart from car launches and fruitless attempts to guess who’s doing well. I say cut it back to three months maximum, instead of five.

        notice that most F1 websites have their highest traffic just before the start of a season

        Yes, but that comes after four months with traffic in the toilet because nothing’s happening!

  44. I’ve always thought there should be 20 races, but I hearing an idea about bringing back non-championship races maybe 5 of these could be added in the form of he “continental” GPs, e.g. the European Grand Prix (Donington for me), Asian Grand Prix (Bahrain), North American Grand Prix (Indianapolis), African Grand Prix (Kyalami), South American Grand Prix (Buenos Aires). These would form a separate championship and be run to different rules, maybe a spec series of cars with less limits on them than the current ones.

    But definitely at least 20 races (and in decent places)!

  45. More racing is always a good thing! Does anyone know what the 2010 engine allocations are? An extra race may play a part if the teams are only allowed to use 8 without penalty.
    I doubt that 8 engines could be streached to 30 races so that rule would have to change if we ever saw a 30 race calender.

  46. We need the A-1 Ring, Imola, Magny-Cours, and Indy back into racing.

  47. At last something for me.I support you Keith from 2010 Formula should have at least 20 races, not only that they must push it to 25 by 2013.I support you Joshy that we need A1 Ring,Imola,Indy,Magny-Cours & if possible Algarve which have very good gradient changes like Spa.If India joins next year with this five we can have it.But all this is possible if BERNIE is satisfied.Now that is a different story altogether.

  48. I would love more races and a shorter winter stop :)

    Just add many european rounds and some in the us and make it back to back.
    But I Don’t see teams agreeing on that one… But a few more, why not!

  49. Keith,

    I am not a football fan. You can only compare the television coverage of football to F1 if you look at the whole situation.Most of the football coverage is not of the World Cup or other International events, it is coverage of, in effect, the “feeder series” to those events.

    So, leave F1 alone and have more coverage of its feeder series so we get better knowledge of up and coming drivers/teams. The idea of promoting the winners of the feeder series and dropping the loseing team in Fi back to the feeder series sounds like fun.

    1. have more coverage of its feeder series so we get better knowledge of up and coming drivers/teams.

      I definitely agree with that but I still think the F1 calendar should be bigger.

  50. Noooo! Not even more races! It’s getting way too expensive! In the past there were 10 or 12 races, now there’s 19… I say anything between 16 and 18 is a reasonable number of races, but it shouldn’t be more than that!
    Though, they could always have a couple non-championship races thrown in, like they used to…

  51. I think f1 races should be more frequent, but should start 1 or 2 hours later. The times of the singapore gp qualifying were perfect. I go to church on sunday mornings and usually miss the first half of the race. I miss the old early morning races, and its a shame that this year, there only are three. If Bernie Ecclestone wants as many people to watch f1 as is physically possible, then the races should be delayed by an hour as surely there are others in the same scenario as me.

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