Vasseur and Horner split on super-sized 24-race calendar

Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur and his Red Bull counterpart Christian Horner have differing opinions on the length of this year's Formula 1 season which could see a record 24 races.

That was the same number originally planned for 2023, but China ended up dropping out because of lingering concerns with COVID, while the Emilia Romagna Grand prix at Imola was cancelled at the last minute due to local floods.

Both races are back on this year's schedule which begins in Bahrain on March 2 and ends with the traditional season finale in Abu Dhabi on December 8.

Teams had already complained on the workload involved last year, especially with a number of triple headers and tight turnarounds, including having to get from vegas to the other side of the world for back-to-back races.

Vasseur is confident that Ferrari will be able to find a way of handling the physical and emotional strain on team members who are away from home and on the road for such a long time.

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“I think we have room to do something, we have room to manage it in a better way," acknowledging that fatigue had been evident in the closing races of last season. :I think that everybody was exhausted.

“I think we have room to manage it in a better way," he continued. “We need to have the best approach for the mechanics, because it’s part of the performance, it’s part of the reliability,” Vasseur told journalists.

"We need to think about perhaps having a rotation in terms of the mechanics, or to keep mechanics to do the races and to have another group of mechanics at home, taking care of the cars when they are back at the factory," he suggested.

Vasseur added that the burgeoning of the F1 calendar was something to celebrate rather than worry about.

"A couple of years ago we were struggling to find tracks and to find events,” he pointed out. “Today we have a lot of proposals, that we have a situation to do 24 events, and also to be probably a bit selective on the events.

“This year we’ll have the first part of the season in the Far East with Melbourne, Japan and China in a row, so we’ll allow some mechanics and drivers to sometimes stay in this side of the world which will be helpful.

“Then we have to manage properly the team to give them some rest, but I don’t think we have to reduce the number of events," he said, adding: “We have to work on the calendar, for sure."

But Horner was more sceptical, describing the 2024 calendar as being right on the limit of what teams han manage given budget caps affecting staff numbers.

“It’s a brutal year, and I think it’s something that I’m sure will be on the agenda with Formula 1and the FIA to talk about how can we make life more bearable for everybody involved,” Horner told RaceFans.

"It's a traveling circus, but it’s a global circus and we need to just make sure that we protect that and the people within it.

“Money is a big driver in any commercial sport, but it can’t come at the price of human health and wellbeing. I think we’re right on the limit.”

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