124 replies to this topic

[ronsingapore]

Ideally, how many F1 races do you think there should be in a year/season?

 

From  a racing fan perspective, but also from a business POV and profit orientation, how many do you think is ideal? And in which part of the world should they be? Too many races dilute the "brand value" but too little would mean that (a) drivers and constructors would have too few races to prove their capability and (b) it means there is less geographical dispersal, which means loss of market (for example, i would not have followed any form of racing if F1 did not enter my consciousness when it came to Singapore)

 

17-19? Do you think it should be less or more? 

 

If so, how much less or how much more? which months would you like them to be in?

 

 

[Imateria]

One thing I liked about CART in the late 90's/ early 2000's was that they had loads of races. 20 seems like a fine number to me and, in an ideal world, I don't mind where they are as long as the tracks are good and there's a good split between old and new. Heritage is great but you've got to start somewhere, creating a closed shop by telling new events their not welcome because they haven't been around since the 1870's is a quick way to a slow death.

[maximilian]

The more, the merrier!

[stobiesaur]

It's about quality not quantity. Having plenty of races is all well and good but i'd rather less races then races with boring tracks in the middle of nowhere like Korea

[ronsingapore]

It's about quality not quantity. Having plenty of races is all well and good but i'd rather less races then races with boring tracks in the middle of nowhere like Korea

I agree that it is about quality.But you also don't want to few races too! Which market do you think F1 should be in and how many races too?

[ronsingapore]

One thing I liked about CART in the late 90's/ early 2000's was that they had loads of races. 20 seems like a fine number to me and, in an ideal world, I don't mind where they are as long as the tracks are good and there's a good split between old and new. Heritage is great but you've got to start somewhere, creating a closed shop by telling new events their not welcome because they haven't been around since the 1870's is a quick way to a slow death.

 

I really liked the Champcar/CART series too, there was some great driving, but in the end, it went bankrupt; no matter how great a racing series is, in the end, it needs money to survive.

 

20 seems like a good number; however, one issue I have is that F1 have more races than the other feeder/lower formula series.

 

Off hand, I would say at minimum, 12 races a year, and at maximum, maybe 17 per year, with at least 1 on UK, another 3-4 on continental Europe, 1 in the US, another in South America, perhaps 1-2 in the  Middle East, 1 in Australia and another 2-3 in the Asia-Pacific Region.

 

Do any of you have any preferred racing locations or cities (for street circuits?) 

[Atreiu]

16 or 17 with proper room for testing. Not a single more.

[HammyHamiltonFan]

well, it's an 8 month season so I would say about 2-3 a month so between 16-24 races is good imo, less than 16 is too few, more than 24 is too much.

[Rob G]

I'd say 18-20 with the current (lack of) testing rules, or 16-18 with teams allowed to do a proper amount of testing. I'd prefer the latter.

[ollebompa]

16

[MikeMM]

25

[loki]

36, 26 regular season races and 10 Chase races...

[loki]

I really liked the Champcar/CART series too, there was some great driving, but in the end, it went bankrupt; no matter how great a racing series is, in the end, it needs money to survive.

 

20 seems like a good number; however, one issue I have is that F1 have more races than the other feeder/lower formula series.

 

Off hand, I would say at minimum, 12 races a year, and at maximum, maybe 17 per year, with at least 1 on UK, another 3-4 on continental Europe, 1 in the US, another in South America, perhaps 1-2 in the  Middle East, 1 in Australia and another 2-3 in the Asia-Pacific Region.

 

Do any of you have any preferred racing locations or cities (for street circuits?) 

CART didn't go under because of too many races, it went under because there were too many series racing that sort of car.  Two being too many.  The split killed it.

[DILLIGAF]

18 races and more testing.

[Kac]

The racing fan i me says one every week, but "spare a thought for those doing the packing and logistics"...I think a 18 race season is not too demanding..

[CoolBreeze]

15. Another 3-4 circuit for extensive testing. 

[Tourgott]

Before this season I would have loved to have a race on every weekend (especially between 95 and 06). But now I lose more and more interest in F1.

[Peat]

18 is a nice max number. Even then the season becomes tiresome.

I would also go along with having a few more major tests throughout the year. 

[RedBaron]

A question to those who want less races, why do you want less?

 

I'm just interested in knowing the reasons, I'm not waiting to pounce in order to claim you're not a fan etc etc. Ignoring for a moment the demand on team personnel, I'd have one every weekend.

[Ferrari_F1_fan_2001]

18-20. I want quality tracks though not quantitiy.

With testing after some GPs like Barcelona, Monza, Abh Dhabi to be included also. Would save on travel and also development of cars to be aided also.

[MikeMM]

18 races and more testing.

Why as a fan do you need more testing?

Edited by MikeMM, 05 December 2014 - 07:57.

[Peat]

Why as a fan do you need more testing?

 

It allows teams to test stuff properly and find more performance gains through the season. As a 'fan', I like to see an ebb and flow in development with teams coming on at different paces. It seems rather stagnant over the past few years. 

 

It allows more young drivers to be tested. As a 'fan', that interests me. 

It allows people to get to see Formula One cars at a reasonable price.

I like testing.

Edited by Peat, 05 December 2014 - 08:10.

[Kristian]

18/19 is a good amount for having a good balance between wanting to see as much F1 action over a year as possible but also having a life! 

 

But we need variety. All the modern Tilkedromes are just so 'samey' and could be anywhere in the world - I'd rather have a quality calendar of circuits with variety than more races with half of them just ploned in the middle of a random country, with low crowds, with the same lap length, the same average speed, the same weather, the same types of corner, the same number of overtaking spots, etc. Its why races in places like Melbourne, Montreal, Monza, Suzuka, Silverstone, Monaco, etc. feel special. 

[sopa]

17-18 is enough though I'd personally be fine with even less that. I didn't even watch all races last season. If there are too many races, it starts to interfere with personal life and time management too much.

 

E: Especially I feel the end of the season drags on too much. When the Asian season starts from Singapore, there are just so many races and the season drags on and on till late November. I'd be fine if after Monza there would be three late-season non-European races: Singapore, Japan, Brazil. And that's it.

Edited by sopa, 05 December 2014 - 08:14.

[MikeMM]

It allows teams to test stuff properly and find more performance gains through the season. As a 'fan', I like to see an ebb and flow in development with teams coming on at different paces. It seems rather stagnant over the past few years. 

 

It allows more young drivers to be tested. As a 'fan', that interests me. 

It allows people to get to see Formula One cars at a reasonable price.

I like testing.

Teams can and do test stuff on Friday.

Young drviers also do some FP.

[Nonesuch]

I don't mind the numbers too much, but I'd like to see it tightened up a bit.

 

The summer-break always gets me right out of the championship, harshly separating the first part of the season from the second.

 

Nine months is a long season as well, and the sporadic three week gaps make it worse.

[TomNokoe]

16-17

[Mart280]

50, one every week with two weeks off at Christmas.

[hiddenpace]

What I'd do is decrease the waiting periods in between races and compensate for the logistical ramifications by having "continental" seasons.

For example, early in the year could feature your 'Asiatic' season, with Australia, China, Malaysia, Japan, Singapore as one block...one race a week for five, then a 2-3 week break then the 'European' season...'Spain, Monaco, Germany, France (Magny Cours was brilliant), Britain then two week, Hungary, Spa,Monza. Then you can finish with the American season; Canada, USA,Mexico, Brazil.

It would save teams so much on logistics, I think. Set up satellite bases at each continental midpoint, and furnish your cars from there.

I'd drop Bahrain, UAE and Korea.

Edited by hiddenpace, 05 December 2014 - 08:39.

[kimster89]

Ideally? I think 52 races per year would be just fine.

[SenorSjon]

This just asks for a poll...

 

Before this season I would have loved to have a race on every weekend (especially between 95 and 06). But now I lose more and more interest in F1.

 

This. I couldn't get enough of F1 from 1988 through 2004. 2005 was meh with the tires and 2006 was the doom of the V10. 

 

The calendar with odd breaks and double-headers, racing in places where there is zero racing history, tracks becoming uglier (even beloved Spa is one big runoff now) and the lack of season development is really killing my interest. 20 Sundays of sacrificing family life becomes harder and harder to defend. I'm like a drug addict. When sober you hate it, but when on it, you keep watching, though more as a background with live timing than really getting engulfed by it.

[Rob29]

NASCAR manages 40+ per year .Around 1961 the likes of Stirling Moss used to contest around that many including non-championship.Intercontinental,F.Libre,sports cars.Around that number should be feasable?

[blacky]

Less race because I don't like the double header.

It's no football match which we watch every week, F1 must be something special. Furthermore the ending of the season 2015 is too late, mid November is late enough.

16-17 races are enough. The greatest pleasure lies in the anticipation.

[PlatenGlass]

I grew up with 16 (it was standard for ages), and as well as being a nice round number (you can divide the season nicely into halves, quarters, even eighths), it seems about right as well. Too many and it becomes a seemingly endless series of races, each one with little importance. Also, a Grand Prix weekend is quite a commitment to a viewer! Absolutely no more than 20 anyway. But 16 I'd say.

[Peat]

Teams can and do test stuff on Friday.

Young drviers also do some FP.

 

Yeah, I said test stuff 'properly'.

3 hours on a friday subject to drivetrain penalties, with a race to prepare for, rather forces one to be conservative when trying bits.

[HoldenRT]

If I was a mechanic or designer I'd say less.  As a fan I say more.  As many as possible.  It'd never be as many as NASCAR due to the worldwide travel, it'd never be over 30.  But yeah.. as many as possible.

 

NBA has 4 per week.  Most ball sports have 1 per week, sometimes 2 per week.  Most racing is one per fortnight.

 

I don't really understand the "stress" that some make it seem that they want to watch a race of sport.  Or that less makes it more "special".  Don't really understand that.  When you and your wife do private happy time do you say "it's been 3 times this week.. lets wait a month.. it'll be more "special".

 

When sports is on too much you can always just avoid it and check the result.  There is no obligation to watch unless you have OCD.  If you are busy you can DVR and watch it later.  Or not watch at all.  If you are sick of it you can always watch something else, but if you are in the mood and it's a 3 week wait until the next one, you're stuck with your hand in your pants.  The sports that have 4-6 off season but have one match per week are the easiest to watch IMO, because everything stays fresh in your mind from week to week.

 

It's pretty much fine the way it is now though.  As long as there are no 1 race in 7 weeks (summer break) periods, it's not bad the way it is.

[HoldenRT]

Not even the drivers like Fridays, so I'm surprised that fans would say they want more Fridays.

[dweller23]

Every year I tend to lose interest after Japan GP (putting 2014 aside, it was mostly due to trinity of boredom: Korea, India and Abu Dhabi) and I only get excited about Brazillian GP after Japan. For me 16-17 would be enough. Take out Russia, Korea, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain from the calendar, you'll end up with 17 decent races.

[kimster89]

Every year I tend to lose interest after Japan GP (putting 2014 aside, it was mostly due to trinity of boredom: Korea, India and Abu Dhabi) and I only get excited about Brazillian GP after Japan. For me 16-17 would be enough. Take out Russia, Korea, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain from the calendar, you'll end up with 17 decent races.

Bahrain showed this year it can deliver spectacular race. Korea had good races in the past too, for Sochi we need more time to determine, while i agree Abu Dhabi is useless. Not a single edge of the seat race in 5 years.

[ollebompa]

A question to those who want less races, why do you want less?

 

I'm just interested in knowing the reasons, I'm not waiting to pounce in order to claim you're not a fan etc etc. Ignoring for a moment the demand on team personnel, I'd have one every weekend.

IMO there is not enough tracks worthy of a GP.

[Collombin]

A question to those who want less races, why do you want less?
 
I'm just interested in knowing the reasons, I'm not waiting to pounce in order to claim you're not a fan etc etc. Ignoring for a moment the demand on team personnel, I'd have one every weekend.

There are other sports out there, some better. And there's other things to do in life too.

There aren't enough decent tracks.

The more races, the less likely the WDC will go down to the wire.

The less races, the more special each one is. How important is a regular season baseball game? (Each team plays 162 of them per season!!)

[noikeee]

I remember waiting like 6 months from the end of a season to the start of a new one, when there were 16 per year. Yes it drags on a bit nowadays but the winter is less annoying, I'm puzzled why any fan would want to go back to that.

 

I'm fine with 20. I could definitely do with still more, but I already miss races once in a while nowadays, so that would just happen more often and it'd get a bit difficult to follow a season properly.

 

As for the team staff and all other kinds of people that visit every race, from what Saward regularly writes it seems it's brutal for them as it is. Taking that into account and forgetting fan-mode a bit, I would ideally wish for a more carefully planned calendar with less half-the-world trips, and wouldn't mind for there to be 1 or 2 races less.

[SenorSjon]

You had winter testing as a buildup then. Now there is zero running between races, so you can see no development in the meantime. For me a season drags on and on nowadays. 

[Fastcake]

Twenty races makes a good upper limit. Any more than that would place severe strain on the people that actually have to put on this sport for us.

[Jamiednm]

I would say 16-18. I think the following is the ideal calendar:

 

1. Australia

2. China

3. Malaysia

4. Bahrain (because the last 2 race there have been awesome, so it has earned its place on the calendar)

5. Spain

6. Monaco

7. Canada

8. Great Britain

9. Germany

10. Europe*

11. Belgium

12. Italy

13. Singapore

14. Suzuka

15. USA

16. Brazil

 

I'd also keep Monaco and Singapore as the only street circuits.

 

*For Europe, I'd rotate this around different venues such as Hungary, France, Turkey and Austria. If one of the events is a particular success, it can be considered as a GP in its own right.

[superden]

18 max for me. You could easily bin 4-5 races from the current line up, the circuits are sh*t. I won't say which ones because I can't be bothered with the inevitable fanboy ranting.

To those saying 'the more the better' just remember, it's about quality, not quantity.

Edited by superden, 05 December 2014 - 11:40.

[tifosiMac]

18 would be a good number. Any more than that and it affects family life as there are often much better things to be doing on a Sunday afternoon especially during the summer.

[rammsteinfan]

I would say 20-26 races a year. I would drop Abu-Dhabi, Sochi and Hungaroring.

 

1.   Australia Melbourne

2.   Malaysia

3.   China

4.   Japan Suzuka/Fiji/Aida/Okayama

5.   Bahrein/Qatar changed every year

6.   Spain

7.   Monaco

8.   Great Britain

9.   Germany

10. Europe Imola, Jerez, Jarama, Estoril, Baku

11. South Africa

12. Canada

13. USA New Jersey/Indy

14. Turkey

15. Italy

16. Portugal

17. Austria

18. France

19. Benelux(Belgium, Netherlands) Spa, Zolder and Zandvoort changing every year. Never going to happen due to construction work needed at Zolder and Zandvoort

20. Canada

21. USA COTA, Laguna Seca or Sebring

22. Mexico

23. Brazil

24. Argentina

25. Singapore

26. Australia II Adelaide

 

That would be the best calander for me.

[JHSingo]

As I said in another forum, I'd honestly be happy with as few as ten, but spread throughout the year. I always feel towards the end of an F1 season that it's dragging on a bit too long, and this year was no exception.

 

Something like - in no order - Australia, Brazil, Japan, Belgium, Monaco, Italy, USA, Britain, Canada, Singapore. Got pretty much all the bases covered there in terms of the races that draw big crowds and tracks with heritage that provide good racing, and then for pure spectacle, Singapore (and to a similar extent) and Monaco.

Edited by JHSingo, 05 December 2014 - 12:07.

[ANF]

16 was good. In fact, I would rather have the odd season with 14 or 15 races than next year's calendar with 20 or 21.

The more the races are, the less significant they become.