Yes, i know a weekly column that appears randomly once in two months, or twice a week. However, it’s about the message that I want to bring to you, to warp you right in some discussion. Recently the Formula One announced a Grand Prix calendar of 23 Grand Prix. First, I thought it was a joke. Then I understood it was the real deal. I really don’t understand this. Well I do though i disagree with the philosophy behind it.
You may call me a crying millennial for complaining about the amount of races for 2022. Yes you may. On the other hand I’m one of the few F1 fans that smokes cigars during a race and starts to philosophy about the Formula One. In a weird way these two sentences will give you a brain error, well I hope so.
Anyway, 23 Grand Prix weekend in a season. There was a decade, called the 1970s, where Formula One drivers entered non-championship races, races in the Aurora Series, the British Formula 1, the F1 series in South Africa and so on. Yes, some did as well 23 races or even more. Those days, are not comparable with today. The Formula One became a complicated sport where it is not allowed to do other races series during the season. Sure, there are some exceptions.
What shocked me even more is the amount of doubleheaders in the first draft that was published two weeks ago. Is it to keep the season somewhat shorter? The first race is in March and the last race is in November. Is it manageable for the employees of the teams? As we have a budget cap teams can’t hire complete crews to switch with others to give them the needed rest times. I know people like Franz Tost are yapping about if you can’t handle it just leave. I have to agree I understand the hard labour as people today complain if they have to lift a box of old paper.
Then there are the “dedicated” fans that will just randomly tell you “plenty of others that are ready to work in the Formula One” or similar nonsense. As well the fact that we have to be reliable and look after our whatever footprint does not match with this. 23 Grand Prix means a lot of truckies to drive thousands of kilometres. Uncountable amounts of flights and of course, the stuff that goes by boat. Really green and so on, don’t forget to mention the amount of rubber that will be used. So far my Green stamp on this article.
To come to the core of the title and forget what’s written all above. The Formula One isn’t special any more if we have every two weeks (on average) a Grand Prix to watch. It lost it’s feeling years ago in my opinion. The increasement of Grand Prix and with it the money that comes with it is killing the sport. Correction killed the old sport most of came for.
Given the fact, we will go to countries that don’t fit the “We Race As One” and “Stop Racism” bill. It’s well known im not a fan of Saudi Arabia I would love it to have that race in Jeddah cancelled. For sure it is a battle I will never win as Aramco is pumping millions if not billions in the sport at the moment. Haven’t yet talked about Qatar and all these countries who don’t give a damn about human rights.
I know, I will not watch Saudi Arabia and probably neither Qatar. As I cancelled my visit to the Hungarian Grand Prix earlier this year and refused to watch the Azerbaijani Grand Prix. Yep I like Turkey and I would go to Turkey. However, that’s a different story. I can explain why, though most of you won’t accept the story. The same people who don’t care we race in Saudi Arabia and even support it as they say “The sport should not inflict with politics”. The same people who don’t see the Sports whitewashing happening currently.
Then there is for the employees as the fans the fact that we all have our own lives. I don’t believe people are able to give up their weekends to just watch Formula One with 23 races in a season. This was different when we had 16 or 17 Grand Prix’s back in the days. Indeed, back then we were complaining as well about the amount of race. However, Formula One anno 2021 lost complete the goal and lost the mythical and magic touch it used to have. I loved it to wait for the next Grand Prix. The excitement if a new Grand Prix weekend was happening. Oh what do I miss those day! You can conclude that a Grand Prix year with 17 races is the perfect solution.
I know, I know, this will never happen, as it is the past, only the future counts with standardization of the cars, as much as Grand Prix’s as possible and come up with some shady improvements so the fans don’t get bored. Why would you watch a race that is 2 hours if you can do a lame sprint race on the Saturday?
