McLaren CEO Zak Brown believes introducing a rotational Formula 1 calendar could help the sport expand to further regions and up to 28 grands prix.
2023 saw a record 22-race F1 calendar with an additional six Sprint events, having originally planned to be 23 before the cancellation of the race at Imola due to extreme weather.
A 24-race calendar had been initially planned ahead of the year, but the Chinese Grand Prix was swiftly cancelled because of complications surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2024, a record 24-race calendar has been put in place and many drivers and personnel within the paddock have been concerned about staff burnout.
However, Brown believes there is a way to continue growing the sport into further territories without the calendar necessarily getting any bigger.
“24 races is the max for people’s well-being, but we need to continue to expand the sport,” said Brown.
“So I’d like to see a scenario where you maybe have 20 fixed Grands Prix and, say, eight that rotate every other year.
“So you have a 24-race calendar, but you expand the sport by going into other regions and other countries.
“That being said, I don’t know the economics inside out of how it works as a track promoter.
“So whether an alternating calendar is economically viable for the promoter, but I think that would be the ideal scenario.
“It is easy for me to scratch that out, but more difficult for Formula 1 to put that scenario together. But I think that would be most ideal.”
In recent years Formula 1 has sought to expand its outreach in the Middle East, with the additions of the Saudi Arabia and Qatar Grands Prix in 2021.
The series has also been expanding its footprint in the United States, adding the Miami Grand Prix in 2022 and the Las Vegas Grand Prix to this year’s calendar, bringing F1’s U.S. visits to three per year.
One region that remains relatively unexplored by F1, especially in recent times is Africa, with the continent not having hosted a Grand Prix since the South African Grand Prix at Kyalami in 1993.
Thirty years later, there have been calls to return the sport to Africa and Lewis Hamilton has said he’s pressing F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali into organising a race in Africa.
With that being said, Brown’s proposal of a rotating calendar could also see the return of races in the likes of France and Germany, with both nations losing their place in F1 in recent years.
