Adding more races 'has to make financial sense', says Williams

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Williams deputy team principal Claire Williams says that expanding the Formula 1 calendar beyond its present 21 races has to make financial sense to teams.

Formula 1's commercial rights holders are keen to add new events to the line-up and are currently negotiating for new races in Denmark, Vietnam and the United States.

But Williams is concerned about how teams will be expected to cover the increased annual commitments.

“I don’t see why teams should be expected to go to new races for nothing," she commented.

"If we are to do that then it has to make financial sense and those races that come on the calendar have to come on because they are paying to do so.

"[Otherwise] the price fund pot dilutes down even further and it’s just costing the teams more and more - and that shouldn’t be the case.”

“Maybe drawing the calendar out, starting earlier and finishing later gives more of a break," she acknowledged. "But it actually then takes away time that we have to build our cars over the winter

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"Also [there's less time] for the guys to spend good quality time at home with their families over the winter," she added.

“From a human perspective it’s tough on our guys who are having to spend such a huge amount of time away from home."

Williams' counterpart at Force India, Bob Fernley, agreed that human logistics was a big issue in terms of expanding the current Formula 1 calendar.

“20 races, we’re very much on the edge of being able to maintain it with one crew, one travelling crew in particular," he explained.

"Once you get a sustained amount of races that are going well up into the twenties, we’re going to have to bring in revolving crews.

"There’s a huge cost to that, and these are the things we’ve got to look," he said, pointing out that Liberty's proposed $150 million cost cap could make it impossible for teams to sustain.

"There needs to be just a look at how are we going to do it logistically," he insisted.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.