Can F1 make triple-headers sustainable?

The final quarter of the 2024 F1 season is about to kick off with a particularly intense burst of action. A triple-header in the Americas is followed by a two-week gap before the last three races are held on consecutive weekends, travelling from Las Vegas to the Middle East.

For drivers fighting for a higher position in the championship, it will be a hugely engaging period. Yet for mechanics and team staff who have to plan, arrange, shift equipment and recreate a pit garage every time, it is going to be an even tougher run towards Christmas. Former McLaren mechanic Marc Priestley is very aware of the stress that the latter part of the season can create for everyone involved.

“I used to think of it as being like the end of term when you’re a kid,” Priestley remembers. “Everything becomes more of a struggle, a bit of a drag. By the end of the season, you’re desperate for it to be done. Yes, it changes if you have the motivation for a championship fight, but when you’re stuck in the midfield it can become harder and harder.”

The mental aspect of working within Formula 1 gradually became a key aspect for Priestley and he now lectures and podcasts on the positives he discovered partly through the work of Aki Hintsa.

A medical doctor and a pioneer in the field of human high performance, Hintsa’s background included stints in Ethiopia in the 1990s, where he observed the training process of the country’s celebrated long-distance runners, including Olympic medallist Haile Gebrselassie. This fuelled the theories he developed into an award-winning book, The Core, and the theory of ‘the circle of a better life’ he took to McLaren. Team boss Ron Dennis recognised how focusing on the mental well-being of people would lift the team’s output to another level.

“We started a project with Aki in the mid-2000s called McLaren Lab,” Priestley explains, “and we put a lot of time, effort and resource into working on preventing people becoming tired, demotivated and stressed. We did a lot with the Olympic institute in Finland, working with coaches from other sports, learning how they dealt with stress.”

The late Dr. Aki Hintsa, who died in 2016, had a huge impression on Priestly at McLaren

Photo by: James Moy

That was at a time when triple-headers hadn’t yet become a part of F1 but the schedule was already arduous. Three consecutive races in 2018 proved unpopular with teams and the commercial rights holder said ‘never again’ – but the circumstances of 2020, which started in July owing to Covid-19, meant several triple-headers were required to ensure enough races were contested over the year to fulfil contractual demands with broadcasters. Since then the three-races-per-fortnight format has become commonplace as F1’s calendar expands further.

“One of the big impacts is that we all have our own lives outside of racing; many of us have families, children, friends and outside hobbies,” says Priestley. “They’re a big part of your life but on a triple-header all of that disappears for almost four weeks. You effectively disconnect from that major part of your life. It puts you under an extra level of pressure when you then have to immerse yourself in a team of people without a break and with the F1 demands.”

Priestley was a sociable individual with many friends in the team and yet, even before triple-headers were a part of F1, he’d learnt to create a space for himself to maintain his wellbeing.

Four years ago the teams were virtually unanimous in declaiming triple-headers as unsustainable. Now they’ve seemingly reached a grudging acceptance that they are inevitable

“I’d go for dinner on my own, or I’d build in a routine such as I’d have at home like meditation and physical exercise in the morning before the F1 day began,” he says. “It gave me familiarity with my regular life so I didn’t feel like I’d lost touch with everything else. I think the teams today are much more aware of this necessity, with departments dedicated to the staff, and there are specialised positions to ensure people are comfortable and fulfilled.”

Four years ago the teams were virtually unanimous in declaiming triple-headers as unsustainable. Now they’ve seemingly reached a grudging acceptance that they are inevitable, given the demand for races. Mitigation of the effects is now an area of focus.

PLUS: An F1 weekend behind the scenes with a team physio

Some teams are rotating staff between events to provide opportunities to take a break. It suits some more than others, especially as younger team staff without family life want
to be involved in every step as they continue to learn. There are teams that are happy to have that full-on involvement from key characters but it causes some conflict on the grid.

“The FIA may need to mandate the rules so that certain team personnel aren’t allowed to do every race,” Priestley reckons, “so a staff member’s F1 pass will perhaps have access to 20 races and then the team has to manage the rotation of people. The system may be developed so that a team can be safe from themselves and be fair across the board.”

Could F1 consider changes involving a cap on the number of weekends that team personnel can work?

Photo by: Erik Junius