15/10/2024
NEWS STORY
FIA president, Mohammed ben Sulayem warns that increasing the number of races would require the rotation of staff in order to cope.
According to the sport's owner, new hosts are queuing out of the door, with Argentina said to be the latest prospect, largely based on the extraordinary debut of Franco Colapinto.
The restriction on testing led to teams no longer needing dedicated race and test staff, while the budget cap also saw the teams reduce staff numbers in a bid to come in under the limit.
However, the FIA president warns that increasing the number of races would see teams, and even the governing body itself, have to take on more staff in order to cope.
"You cross a barrier where you need two teams, we can't have more," he told Motorsport.com. "Logistically, then I have to have two teams. But can the drivers take it? I just want to know.
"Let's just be sensible and logical about it. Can the drivers take it physically and mentally?" he continued. "This is a question I will ask the drivers. And what about the teams?
"As for the FIA, we cannot do it with this one team. We have to have a rotation of two teams, when it comes to the staff on the ground."
A number of team bosses, most notably Toto Wolff, have suggested the need for staff rotation, the Austrian making the claim when the calendar stood at 23 races.
With new hosts seemingly eager to part with their money and welcome the sport, it isn't only staff that may need rotating, with a number of events, especially in the sport's traditional European heartland, said to be under consideration.
This, Ben Sulayem concedes, means that the calendar would not need to be increased to a NASCAR-type frequency of events.
"They never came back and said, 'oh, we need more races', no way they did," he admits of FOM. "What they are after is quality and that's why we have this good relationship with them.
"I mean, I will not stop them to go to 25, because it is their right, OK? In the end it's up to them.
"But they are the ones who don't want to add more races. Because they know that it becomes a matter of fatigue then. So they have their own reasons."