Lando Norris believes Formula 1’s schedule would be better if it was slightly reduced, following the release of next year’s calendar.
Formula 1’s calendar has gradually expanded in recent years as championship organisers attract interest from a greater number of promoters.
Next year’s schedule features a record-breaking 24 grands prix, with China returning, and cancelled 2023 venue Imola also slated to make a comeback.
It comes in the wake of Saudi Arabia joining in 2021, Miami in 2022, while Las Vegas is debuting in 2023, while 2021 stand-in venue Qatar is returning on a long-term deal.
“I’d say 24 is a lot,” said McLaren driver Norris. “If I had to put like a perfect number, I would say it’s probably closer to 20.
“But there are too many tracks, there’s a lot of tracks that people want to go to and so on. Like 20 is a good number, also for the lives of mechanics, engineers, everyone that travels, they’re away from their families, kids and so on, for so many days, more days than us as drivers are away, so it’s tougher for them.
“I think when we talk about things, we must speak more as voices for those people than probably for ourselves.
“Like 20 but then with rotating tracks. Sometimes you want to go to certain places in different years. You just can’t go to all the tracks that people want to go to, it’s as simple as that.”
Next year’s schedule has been slightly re-arranged, with Japan shifting to April, Azerbaijan slotted into September, and Qatar moved to link up with Abu Dhabi at the end of the campaign.
“It’s nice to see they’ve put some effort into organising it in a slightly better way, but still it’s a tough calendar, it’s one of the longest calendars we’ve had,” said Norris.
“As long as they keep trying to improve it and do better but I’d say 20 is a better number for everyone, just for the health and everything of all of the Formula 1 people.”
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