Marko and Wolff agree on F1 issue: 'That's just not possible'
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In 2024, a record-breaking 24 Grands Prix together with 6 Sprint events were held during the Formula 1 season. The current Concore Agreement would allow a maximum of 25 weekends held in a year. Both Mercedes team principal and Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko however agree: 24 is the "absolute limit".
Wolff and Marko find 25 F1 races too many
In terms of the Concorde Agreement, the F1 season could be extended with another Grand Prix to 25. Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff believes that would be too much. "That is over the limit. And we still travel comfortably, but the mechanics who build and tear everything down fly economically. You can already see it in people's faces: more is not possible," the Austrian explained to the Austrian public broadcaster, ORF.
Especially the last tripleheader of the season (Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi) was tiring for Wolff's crew. "Las Vegas is very tough. You only see a few hours of daylight, you go to bed and don't know whether to eat or not. Then you wake up in the afternoon, or very early in the morning, which was different for everyone. And you have to move on so quickly that your rhythm can hardly recover," he continued.
Fellow Austrian Helmut Marko could only agree: "I think 24 is absolutely the limit. Although we are privileged in upper management, you also have to think about the mechanics. For example, the race in Las Vegas takes place late at night. You then fly 14 to 16 hours and are in a completely different time zone."
Marko: 'Then you have to have two teams ready'
According to the external advisor, having Las Vegas and Qatar in back-to-back weekends is not logical. "I think you have to coordinate the whole sequence better to keep these 24 races on the calendar. It's also an environmental issue that you don't fly all over the world. But in my opinion, more than 24 is not possible because of the workload, unless you use two teams that alternate," Marko added.
Changes were made to the 2025 F1 Calendar, that groups countries on the calendar closer to each other together. For example, the first three weekends next year will take place in Australia, China and Japan, before a doubleheader follows in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. However, the final tripleheader will be the same as in 2024, with the grid having to fly over from Las Vegas to Qatar.
This article was written in collaboration with Nicole Mulder
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