Monisha Kaltenborn feels the current twenty-one races on the Formula 1 schedule is above the limit of what teams should be asked to do, and does not believe more races mean more viewers.
The team principal of the Sauber F1 Team believes the only benefit is income related, but questions the amount of races on the calendar.
There had been an agreement between the teams and commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone that the calendar would not exceed twenty races, with this year seeing the arrival of the European Grand Prix at Baku and the return of the German Grand Prix at the Hockenheimring.
“21 races is too much for us,” said Kaltenborn to F1i.com. “I think it’s not going to really help us at the end of the day to have more viewers.
“Probably the most important factor is the income, but that again is a question of how long that will last, this kind of strategy? But that’s for the commercial rights holder to know, not for us as teams. But I do believe that this is beyond the limit.”
Kaltenborn believes the summer break is essential for all the teams, especially with the extended calendar in place, and believes the factory shutdown has been one of the best decisions made so engineers and mechanics in particular can get some respite.
“I think it’s very important,” said Kaltenborn. “Irrespective of how your performance is, the people need the break and there is a good reason why races were limited to 20.
“Now we have more and we have destinations further away and we don’t have the capacity as a team to rotate people and to make sure that they don’t go beyond their limits.
“It’s important and I think the factory shutdown – which was agreed at a time when not everybody was so convinced about it because there was no reason to think like this – has actually turned out to be one of the best things we have done for the teams and the people. Maybe we have to do more of this so maybe it is better for everyone.
“For us it is good to be able to really reset everything and then hopefully be much more stable.”
