Formula 1's major schedule issue isn't going away, but it can be improved
With Formula 1’s calendar having been expanded quite a bit from about a decade ago, having well over 20 races during a season has become the norm. This season saw the calendar expand to a record-breaking 24 races, and while the fans get to watch more racing, the teams have to travel a lot more.
Teams traveling back to the same region multiple times during the season makes the calendar not at all environmentally friendly, especially with Formula 1 trying to put their Net Zero initiative in place by 2030.
The 2024 season is set to see teams travel a total of 194,455 kilometers, the equivalent of nearly five trips around the globe, and that also happens to be a 7% decrease from last season’s travel distance. While it is an improvement, more can be done to drastically reduce it. The FIA claim to have an ideal calendar, but the ideal calendar is still a few years away from implementation.
Formula 1 must do two things
If the calendar is to be more sustainable going forward, tripleheaders need to be removed from the calendar entirely, and races should be grouped on the calendar by region.
For example, teams should not be traveling from Texas to Mexico and then to South America for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, just to come back to the United States for the Las Vegas Grand Prix. A better calendar would see the typical travel distance for a team reduced by several thousand kilometers.
A more environmentally friendly calendar could look something like this:
- Bahrain
- Saudi Arabia
- Australia
- Japan
- China
- Imola
- Monza
- Monaco
- Spain
- Belgium
- Netherlands
- Hungary
- Austria
- Silverstone
- Azerbaijan
- Singapore
- Canada
- Miami
- Austin
- Las Vegas
- Mexico
- Brazil
- Qatar
- Abu Dhabi
While it may not make sense scheduling-wise, implementing this order of races would decrease the travel distance by at least 30,000 kilometers.
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Not only should Formula 1 look at this from an environmental standpoint, but also for the sake of all traveling members of a team. While this is their chosen profession, having to be away from their families for weeks at a time and having to adjust accordingly to the local time zone every few weeks can be physically and mentally taxing. So while the issue might seem small at the moment, the problem at hand is worth solving soon.
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