George Russell wants the FIA to prohibit personnel from attending all 24 races of the 2024 season
Next year, 24 races will take place in F1, a record for the sport. Georges Russell, president of the drivers' association, wishes to prohibit team personnel from participating in all of these Grand Prix.
There will be 24 races on the [F1 calendar for the upcoming season](“https://www.f1.com” “F1 2024 Calendar”), which will be a record in the history of the championship. The Chinese Grand Prix will make its return after four years of absence due to the global pandemic. The Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, in Imola, will also be present after being canceled this year due to severe floods in the Emilia-Romagna region last May.
This year 2023 and its 22 races have been the highest number in the history of Formula 1. The Grand Prix sometimes followed one another without a week of rest for the teams, like the Monaco-Barcelona double header on May 28th and June 4th. These consecutive races sometimes take place on different continents, such as the succession of Austin, Mexico, and Interlagos in three weeks on October 22nd, 29th, and November 5th. Not to mention the final two races in Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi without a week of rest on November 19th and 26th.
« I don’t think it is feasible for 4,000 people to do 24 races per season »
With even more races than this year, the fatigue of the drivers, engineers, and mechanics is likely to be even more significant. Mercedes driver and president of the GPDA, George Russell, suggests prohibiting all F1 personnel from covering all 24 races next year.
« The body is getting tangled up. I think there are discussions for next year about the fact that the staff cannot do all the races. I think that would be a good thing. I don’t think it’s viable for 4,000 people to do 24 races per season, especially when we see how geographically, it still doesn’t make much sense », suggests the Brit.
« We have the best of each person in this paddock. The way we travel, we are in a very fortunate position, but there are so many mechanics who are sick, people in the engineering office, who are really struggling with the constant time zone changes, the body doesn’t know where you are, eating at different times, staying in different hotels, different environments, different climates », emphasizes George Russell.
« I have been very sick these past two weeks. First, in Las Vegas, I had a high fever and couldn’t sleep, I felt terrible. Then, I had a horrible cough that stayed with me the whole week in the car. I coughed with every turn, but when you’re strapped in the car, you can’t breathe. You can’t take a deep breath to get the cough out. So, it was just constantly with me. It was quite miserable. So, I was happy to bring it back home when I saw that checkered flag, the Mercedes driver concluded.
