Toto Wolff is worried about the impact of a 21-race season

If private team tests during the season were limited to the official sessions provided by the FIA, one of the main reasons was cost reduction. This allowed teams to no longer have dedicated teams solely for private testing.

But with a calendar now counting 21 races held all around the globe, the constraints of the past are starting to be felt again. This worries team principals, starting with Mercedes’ Toto Wolff. He stated to Autosport: “We need to be cautious with the organization because with 19 races, we saw the mental and physical limits of the team. So we are considering different concepts to see how to cope with 21 races because I am not certain that we will be able to handle 21 races with the current structure. We are looking at how we can optimize travel, jet lag, rest, and maybe have a second team for the guys who are working very hard.”

But this possibility of a second team, set up in other disciplines like Nascar and its 36 races per year, cannot be applied to all positions since some functions cannot be entrusted to different people: « There are many people that you really can’t switch because they are the best. It’s particularly difficult at the end of the year with all these distant races. It becomes very hard. I just want to protect the team, protect the people. We have to see what we can do to be the most efficient but still manageable. »

However, the constraints on personnel began even before the start of the season, in part due to the decision of the FOM and the FIA to advance the start of the season by two weeks, from early April to mid-March. This decision, made only in September, forced all teams to revise their schedule for the preparation of their new car.

For a team like McLaren, determined not to relive the disastrous season of last season, the only possibility was not to take the traditional break between Christmas and New Year’s Day, as explained by Simon Roberts, the team’s operations director, to Pitpass: “We have about eight teams working on a five-day program. In total, we have 110 people involved and we have taken care of those who worked at Christmas with a very competitive package. We had very good feedback. People seemed to appreciate it. It was a bit strange not to have this break but there was a good spirit. Everyone knew why they were doing it and it really worked.”

Under these conditions, we understand even better that Jean Todt’s recent comments, who believes that a 21-race calendar is a privilege for stakeholders, have been even less well received by them. Now, it remains to be seen how the organizations will react to two races in one week, between Canada and Azerbaijan…