“They play the same trick every year” - Horner on “insane” calendar length
F1 currently has a 23-race calendar in 2023 - although this now 22 following the cancellation of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix which is unlikely to be rescheduled.
The number of rounds has slowly been increasing over the years, with F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali pushing for even more.
The current Concorde Agreement - which lasts until 2025 - sets the maximum number of races per season to 24, meaning F1 is near its limit already.
Speaking to the Financial Times, Horner was asked what his ideal number of races is, he replied: “About 18.
“The problem is, Stefano turns up, and they play the same trick every year, and it’s like, ‘Oh, maybe we can’t go to Silverstone, or Monza’s looking a bit wobbly’, and so on.
"And so he says: ‘Well, look, we can’t lose Monaco, we can’t lose Monza, we can’t lose Silverstone’, and then he’ll say: ‘What about Las Vegas?’ Okay, alright, we’ll go to Vegas.
‘What about Miami?’ Yeah, alright. We’ll go there too. And you know, they just keep coming up with great venues and great races, and it’s difficult to say no.
“But you do reach a point where you wonder where you get saturation, and 23 is an insane amount of racing and mileage that we have to cover in a season. I think it’s better to have competition for the existing venues [rather] than just keep adding more and more because you do get to a breaking point, which I don’t feel we’re that far from.”
Horner believes 23 races is a “big commitment” for fans at home to follow and that F1 shouldn’t keep adding more.
“You get to a point where, you know, 23 Sundays a year for people to take two hours out of their Sunday afternoon or evening, it’s a big commitment to follow a whole season, and I think that’s enough.”
