“You’ve already reached the point of saturation,” Christian Horner exasperated with the ever-expanding Formula 1 calendar

“You’ve already reached the point of saturation,” Christian Horner exasperated with the ever-expanding Formula 1 calendar

Red Bull Racing's Team Principal Christian Horner

The 2021 season of F1 was the longest in F1, with 22 races starting in Bahrain and ending in Abu Dhabi. However, that record couldn’t be held for long. The calendar for the 2022 season consists of 23 races, just one short of the maximum races allowed in a year as per the Concorde Agreement.

However, the season could end with 22 races only if no replacement for the canceled Russian GP is announced, which albeit seems to be highly unlikely. There are rumors of the race to be replaced by a double-header in Singapore or a single round in Qatar.

But, according to Red Bull boss Christian Horner, the sport should focus on the quality of the races instead of the quantity, which has posed several challenges to the teams. This also comes amidst the talks of dropping classic European tracks such as Monaco and Belgium. 

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Christian Horner, as quoted by motorsport-total.com, said, “With 23 races you’ve already reached the point of saturation. Maybe you have to think about a few other races on the calenda,” clearing out his desire for quality racing over the year.

What do people other than Christian Horner think of classic European races?

Monaco GP
Monaco GP

Christian Horner isn’t the first to welcome the changes to the calendar and certainly wouldn’t be the last. Earlier Toto Wolff too approved of F1’s choice of the tracks as Mercedes’ boss lauded F1’s CEO for his leadership.

Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz said, “Some races will have to pay the price and be out. I’m a big fan of going to Miami and Las Vegas, but at the same time, it would be a big loss not to have some classic European races.”

He added, “Hopefully we can find a compromise where races that can’t afford it every year are on the calendar at least every two or three years. Business is business, and Liberty Media and Formula 1 have to do what they have to do, but just for business, I wouldn’t want to stop racing in Europe.”

F1 is yet to announce the departure of any classic race as of now, but according to several stakeholders, such as McLaren’s CEO, Zak Brown, tracks like Monaco must find a way and give strong points to keep themselves on the track. With F1’s intention to expand into the lesser tapped markets, it seems inevitable for some of the fans’ loved venues to go.

ALSO READ: “Fans who follow F1 don’t care where we race,” Toto Wolff on the progressive expansion of the F1 calendar