Is 20 Races Too Many?

If you ask any Formula One fan if seeing more races in the line up would cause them to turn of their television, they would say that you are crazy.  If you are a fan, then every other weekend you are stilling in front of your television, or if you are luckey enough, sitting in the grandstands of the race itself.  As a fan, you will not miss a race, specially as the season comes to and end.

 

Look at Abu Dhabi in 2010.  Any fan knew that the race itself is quite uneventful, boring even, and yet it had the highest rating that the FIA and F1 have seen in quite some time. 

Max Mosley is concerned about the 2011 Formula One season as he believes that a 20 race season is just too long. Even the 2010 season was almost 9-10 months long..

"For me personally, it is too much," he told German newspaper Die Welt.

"In my opinion that's too many Sunday afternoons to expect people to adjust their Sunday afternoons to Formula One.

"At some point it starts to get annoying.

"If you start to skip races that could quickly become a habit and it does it will lead to the TV ratings have a snowball effect."

For a fan, the more races the merrier.  But what a lot of fans may not think of or remember is that this is not scripted television.  There are 2 drivers on each team and both of them come with an army of men and women whom already work day and night throughout the year and this would make it even worse for them.

With the US and Russian Grand Prix to be added in the near future as well, the season would then consist of 22 races which could be deemed as outrageous.

Another issue that the fans many not see or quite understand is the cost that comes with each team, with each weekend.  The glamourous look of each race, each weekend come at a cost for the team and town alike. Not to mention how much has to be put into the sport before the team can even make it to the track. The costs of competing in the sport are out of control, as Former FIA President Max Mosley explains.

"There is the threat of a short-term crisis in Formula One. Currently we are celebrating a great season but the future looks bleak.

"Those who go into 2011 require $100 million. 30 or 40 comes as the start-up money from Bernie Ecclestone and perhaps 20 to 25 million from sponsors or drivers.

"Where does the rest come from is what six teams are wondering.

“In January 2008 I warned that without cost reduction it won't be only the small teams having problems. It has arrived: Honda, BMW, Toyota and Renault have gone because the budgets are out of proportion,”