F1 drivers speak on the long calendar gap between Singapore and Austin F1 races, and the idea of two triple-headers ending 2024 season.
The unofficial summer break in September-October has caused for some debates among drivers and teams, whether the calendar is stretched when it could be bunched up a little more. After the August break, the F1 crew earned a three-week unofficial break – albeit with the factories on – between the races in Singapore and Austin.
While there is this break, but there is a catch to it. The remaining six races are bunched up in sets of three straight weekends to end the year, which will stretch into December. The first triple-header will be Austin, Mexico and Brazil, while the other one will be Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
And there is varied response to this idea. While some think it should be changed, but others feel, it is fine, since they have got the current unofficial break to recharge for the end. But the F1 drivers are not too worried about themselves as such, they are more worried about the team members.
They are the ones who have to do the extra work. And this year again, the long flight from Las Vegas to Qatar will take place after last year – when they did the travel to Abu Dhabi. The FIA and FOM has tried to bunch up some races geographically, but there are various factors which hampers them.
Yuki Tsunoda: “I’m OK, I think. I feel, I mean, there’s a three weeks gap also after Singapore. So there’s times a bit to rest and recharge ahead of two in a row, back-to-back, three weeks. So I feel OK, but it will be for sure tough, especially more towards the mechanics, you know, engineers, like for those people it will be much tougher than us. So, yeah. Yeah, it’s more concern to them, I guess, rather than drivers.”
Max Verstappen: “I mean, I’ve always said, it’s quite a lot of races, of course, that we have in the calendar. But I think for me, it’s more just travelling with the time zone differences, you know, between Vegas and Qatar. You’re flying almost to the other side of the world again, which I think we can do a little bit of a better job if we do triple headers, that they are a bit closer together. For me, that would make a bit more sense. So that’s probably something that we have to look at. if we’re going to do so many races at least make sure that they are closer together.
“But again, of course, it depends on ticket sales. But yeah, I mean at the end of the day you have to come to a bit of a middle ground, right? It’s a long flight, Vegas to Qatar. But then, of course, you’re in Qatar, you fly to Abu Dhabi, which is fine. For me, that is not a problem. But yeah, end of the season, when you’re getting a bit tired, it’s easier also to get sick. And then actually flying for a long period of time is not helping.”
Lance Stroll: “Yep. I agree. I think we could probably do a better job, like Max said, just geographically linking up the races, so that we do Asia, and then America, and then you know, the Middle East. There’s still a lot of jumping around and jet lag and stuff on the teams, you know, where I think as drivers we have it pretty easy compared to some of the team and staff members that have a tough time getting around.”
Alexander Albon: “There are quite spaced out races now, after Singapore, we are in a middle of a triple week break. If you told me, I would have tagged Singapore and Qatar as the first two races of a triple-header, but it doesn’t always work out like that. For sure, it will be important to recover, for example, Qatar it isn’t race physically, but it is still going to one of the hardest races…in terms of preparation. The recovery is not optimal otherwise. I’ll be interested to know if it is enough, this delaying these races to later in the year, if the temperature will be that different.
“It will be interesting to know about the tyres, what we are going to there with the sprint race. If everything is managed, I think it is fine, but if it is similar to last year then it will be racing hard. It is what it is, I think, yeah it [Las Vegas to Qatar], is not ideal for sure, if it could be done in different way, I think Vegas was 4-5 degrees and Qatar will be 34-35 degrees, even like 42-43 degrees, yeah, it is not going to be easy.”
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