Max Verstappen gets support from FIA president on critical F1 matter despite ongoing row
Max Verstappen's comments have been backed up by the acting FIA president.
Max Verstappen’s demand for F1 not to move beyond a 24-race calendar has been met with support from Mohammed Ben Sulayem, who has revealed that the FIA does not have the capacity to manage the sport beyond its current schedule.
In 2014, Lewis Hamilton took the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi to cap off a dominant title-winning campaign. That was the 19th and final race of the year. A decade on and F1 is navigating a record-breaking 24-race schedule as the sport’s wider appeal continues to boom.
With so many new cities and tracks angling for a spot on the calendar, F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has been willing to expand the sport’s schedule. However, with the Grand Prix tally now at 24, drivers and team personnel are at breaking point.
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Verstappen has been clear about the matter. “I feel already that we’re way over the limit of races so for me personally, I know of course I’m still young but I also know that I’m not doing this for another 10 years doing 24 races,” he said in Bahrain earlier this year.
“So I think for sure like also Lewis said I think it’s about the quality over quantity that we have to look at as well. From my side, I know and I’ve said it before, this is not sustainable.
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“I love racing a lot and I do it a lot and also outside of Formula One but at one point you start looking into the quality of life and how much you are away for doing the sport that you love, but at one point I prefer probably to just be at home and focus on other projects because this is crazy.”
The Dutchman now has the support of FIA president Ben Sulayem, who told Autosport: “You cross a barrier where you need two teams, we can’t have [more]. Logistically, then I have to have two teams [within the FIA].
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“Can the drivers take it? I just want to know. Let's just be sensible and logical about it. Can the drivers take it physically and mentally? This is a question I will ask the drivers. And what about the teams? As for the FIA, we cannot do it with this one team. We have to have a rotation of two teams when it comes to the staff on the ground.”
Verstappen and Ben Sulayem haven’t always seen eye to eye lately. The latter’s organisation came under intense criticism after the Dutchman was slapped with a community service sentence for swearing during Thursday’s FIA press conference at the Singapore Grand Prix last time out.
