As Otmar Szafnauer and Zak Brown claim the calendar should be expanded to as many as 30 races, drivers say that 24 is already over the limit.

They say you can't have too much of a good thing, but that doesn't wash with F1 bosses or a number of team principals who insist that there is demand - and the money - for as many as thirty races a year.

With the sport still reaping the boom that came in the aftermath of the pandemic lockdowns, when many discovered F1 for the first time courtesy of Drive to Survive, many see this as the perfect time to capitalise to the fullest extent.

However, other than the demands on team personnel, even drivers are unhappy with the thought of more races.

"I think we're already at the limit of the number of races that the personnel, drivers, F1, people in F1, journalists, can take during a year if you want to have a family back home to go and see and to keep in touch with your home," said Carlos Sainz.

"It doesn't matter if it's family, if it's your dog or whatever," he continued, "I think it's just on the limit of being a bit too much and I really hope it just doesn't go much higher than 24 because if not I think it's going to be very tricky for everyone.

"I think Formula One is risking becoming too constant," he warned, "having a race every weekend and losing a bit the appetite of everyone switching on the TV to watch F1, and I think F1 needs to remain exclusive.

"It needs to remain a sport where everyone is looking forward for that race to switch on and not something that you can get used to just by switching on the TV like a regular football league match every weekend.

"If we've got to that point where we even need to rotate drivers, we've gone too far. And I think we are already pretty close to that limit."

"I think we are already well over the limit," agreed countryman Fernando Alonso. "I started and we had 17 races, then it was 18 at some point. Then, I think when Liberty came, it was like a message that we had 2021 season and that was absolutely the limit, 20 races. And now we are in up to 24. This is not sustainable for the future, I think for anyone.

"Drivers, even the world champion thinks that this is a little bit long the season. Imagine for the rest of us, you know, that we go to the races in the second half for nothing because, I mean, there is no incentive to fight for anything. So I think, or someone understands this, so yeah, it's going to be detrimental for the sport."

Indeed, the world champion, Max Verstappen, who has never held back in terms of criticisnig some of the moves Liberty has taken since buying the sport, is firmly against the idea.

"I feel already that we're way over the limit of races," he said. "So for me personally, yeah, I know I'm of course still very young, but I also know that I'm not doing this for another ten years.

"I think it's about the quality over quantity that we have to look at as well," he added. "And yeah, from my side, I know, and I've said it before, this is not sustainable.

"I love racing and I do it a lot also outside of F1," he continued. "But at one point you, you start looking into the quality of life and how much you are away for doing a sport that you love.

"At one point I prefer probably to just be at home and focus on other projects, because this is crazy, you know how much you have to do for it. And I love it. Now it's not a problem. But I know that in a couple of years time, it's very different.

"We need to look into that, because I think if you have to start rotating drivers it's a bit crazy. But at the end of the day, of course, it's up to Formula One, you know what they want to do with their sport.

"But if you know people in the sport start shortening their careers because it's too much. I think that's a bit of a shame. So hopefully we can have a look at that for the future."