Could F1 Handle 24 Races A Year ?

Williams chief executive Adam Parr believes that it would be possible to increase the number of races in each season to twenty-four – but only if race dramatically change their schedules.

This season's calendar features nineteen races – the highest number of events since 2005. Subsequently, this figure is expected to rise in the next few years, with India being added to the calendar in 2011 and the United States a year later.

This has greatly concerned teams who fear that an expanded calendar will prove to be a logistical nightmare and mean that extra team members will have to be found to rotate with existing staff.

However, with falling attendances and sponsorship drying up, the F1-supremo is keen to continue to expand the calendar in a bid to increase the amount of capital generated by the sport's commercial rights holder, the Formula One Group, and to help service the debts of private equity firm CVC Capital Partners- which reportedly paid around $1.7bn to acquire control of the organisation in 2006.

As a result, Parr believes that the sport could handle more than twenty races on the calendar – but only if meetings were shortened from three days to two.

Despite supporting an extention to the season, Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn admitted that any change would initially increase costs.

"I think there's a step change, where you get to a certain number and you have to start taking on duplicate crews like they do in NASCAR," he said. "That first step change is quite expensive, so it can be done but we need to make sure it's managed properly."

"To be clear, we're all delighted that they're increasing the number of races."

Although teams currently receive half of the sport's commercial revenues, Brawn admitted that teams must remain cautious when negotiating with the sport's commercial rights holders. 

"There's an agreement with Bernie that the more races we do the more money the teams get, so we've got to make sure that the money we get is more than the money we spend, which is not easy with Bernie," he said.

"We just need to manage the situation properly because especially the races which are coming up, they're great for Formula 1, so we will support them 100 percent.

"There are consumables involved: we use more engines, we use more brakes, we use things like that.

"We've got flights, we've got hotels, but a lot of the core costs are spent before you even go to the first race."

My Comments: Come what may, the F1 schedule is bound to change next year.  A lot of changes and much more excitement is on the cards! But yet, I do wonder if the drivers have a fatigue factor...