Formula One continues to expand its schedule with new races in Miami this year and Las Vegas in 2023.Daniel Ricciardo told Insider that an ideal schedule would be closer to 18 races instead of 23.
MIAMI — This weekend, Formula One will run its inaugural Miami Grand Prix, sandwiched between stops in Italy and Spain, which now has many wondering how much is too much.
According to
"I think 23 races is okay if there wasn't so much stuff, you know, before and after the weekend as well," Ricciardo told Insider ahead of the Miami GP. "If it was like Friday to Sunday, 23 times a year, that would be okay. But sometimes we're getting to a race, you know, Tuesday, Wednesday to already start doing some marketing and some events and things .... It's quite a lot with everything else."
So what is the ideal number of races for Ricciardo? He says the perfect season would be 20% shorter.
"I would say like the way it is and how it's structured, maybe 18 is a sweeter number," Ricciardo said. "I mean, I'm not complaining. Like, I'm certainly up for [23 races]. This is just kind of a magic wand."
Professional obligations is just part of the toll
In addition to the professional obligations between races for a driver, there is also the physical toll. Ricciardo noted that Monday is really the only day after a race for truly resting during the season with training picking back up on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Ricciardo's McLaren teammate Lando Norris said he would prefer 18-20 races and also stressed the need for more time off, just for the mental break.
"Sometimes it was actually nice to have two weekends off in a row because now we only have a maximum of one weekend off, and that one weekend off, you have a bit of time to chill from the previous race, but by the time you've chilled you are already preparing for the next race," Norris said during a Reddit Q&A. "Whereas when you had two weekends off, you could chill, then you could chill even more! And you are fully chilled, you take your mind off racing for a bit, and then you start the build-up.
"One week's not enough," he said.
And it is not just about time for recovery. These drivers and teams are also tasked with moving from continent to continent in between races.
This was a point brought up by Mercedes driver George Russell when discussing the early-season schedule in which the teams went from Saudi Arabia to Melbourne and then to Italy in the span of four weeks.
"I think having Melbourne in between races, especially as a standalone, is too tough for the teams and everybody," Russell told the media. "People came out on Saturdays and Sundays to get acclimatized to the conditions, to the time zone change, and it's just too much, I think."
And now, of course, they are on yet another continent, North America.
According to Ricciardo, that might not be so bad if all the races were in one of his favorite cities.
"Probably just like a dozen races in Austin," Ricciardo joked when Insider asked him about his perfect season. "I think I would be happy with that. If there were some triple-headers in Austin, you would see me saying, 'Yes, please.'