At the beginning of March and due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Formula 1 made a decision without going back; terminate the contract that linked them to the promoters of the Russian Grand Prix, not only for this season, but also for future calendars of the highest category of motorsport.
More than a month later, it is still unknown which circuit will replace the Sochi race, a grand prix that was scheduled to take place at the end of September. Among the most recent rumours, Qatar and a second race in Singapore appear to have bought most of the ballots to fill their slot on the calendar.
However, Haas team principal Gunther Steiner believes a good idea for teams to save money this season would be to reduce the calendar to 22 races, vacating the Russian GP slot and giving teams breathing room. a year that will be very marked by the new budget limit.
“The decision should depend on how much the new race brings to the teams’ budget,” Steiner told GPFans . “F1 needs to make a decision and make sure that the race doesn’t just take place for the sake of it, given the high logistics costs that we already have.”
“In F1 we have to make sure that we receive the right amount for each race that takes place in a new place, we must not allow some to lose money by visiting one more country.
“I think 22 races in the same season is a reasonable number, but if the 23rd race is done in optimal conditions, then everything is in order,” Steiner concluded.
Currently and due to the new technical regulations that have radically modified the single-seaters, all the teams are struggling to the maximum with the cost limit, since each update must have guarantees that it will work, because if not, that would turn the planning upside down. of the teams and could even compromise the rest of the course in some more specific situations.
For this reason, Haas , one of the teams that has had to tighten its belt the most economically, considers that a calendar with 22 races could satisfy all the needs, both for the teams and for the fans. Although yes, as long as the new race involves a good handful of millions, they would be happy to continue with the main idea, which was none other than to complete the longest calendar in F1 history with 23 grand prix.
