Spa no longer yearly in F1: 'With rotating races, the sport grows'
F1 News
- Ludo van Denderen
With the new contract for the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, Formula 1 has finally made the move. The race at the historic circuit in Belgium will soon be run every other season rather than every year. More circuits are to follow; one year they will be on the calendar, and the next they won't be. Zak Brown, McLaren's CEO, thinks this is a good thing.
According to the American, 24 Grand Prix weekends is the absolute max per year. With that, he would see the following distribution: "I think maybe having 20 fixed races and eight races that rotate every other year so we can continue to grow the sport, because there's definitely demand. So if we can be in 28 markets, I think that would be fantastic. But I think we can only do that 24 times a year," Brown said.
More staff at F1 teams
According to the CEO of the current constructors championships, Stefano Domenicali deserves a lot of credit. In his view, the Formula One Management CEO has ensured that there is a balanced F1 calendar. But, the American argues, it really should stay at 24 weekends a year. There is not much more for everyone in the sport to do, is Brown's belief.
"Looking after our people is number one priority. And so we are going to have to look at rotations and things of that nature, which we're already starting to do. Because I think this was the first year we've done 24 races. Give it another couple of years, there will be some people that get pretty tired," is Brown's belief.
This article was written in collaboration with Norberto Mujica.
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