Exclusive: FIA would need ‘to cross a barrier’ to support 25 F1 races

FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem has insisted the federation is currently unable to support a 25-race Formula 1 calendar.

The current Concorde Agreement allows for 25 races per season. But although there is a massive demand for a slot on the F1 calendar - with Argentina being the latest to express interest in hosting a Grand Prix - F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali last year stated that he would like to stick to 24 races for the time being.

“I think 24 is the right number”, he said on F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast. “I would say this is the number which we should target to be stable for a long time.”

According to Ben Sulayem ‘everything’ is on the limit at the moment for the FIA, with 24 events on this year’s schedule.

“You cross a barrier where you need two teams, we can’t have [more]”, Ben Sulayem told Autosport when asked if adding one extra race would already pose a problem. Logistically, then I have to have two teams.

“Can the drivers take it? I just want to know. Let's just be sensible and logical about it. Can the drivers take it physically and mentally? This is a question I will ask the drivers. And what about the teams?”

“As for the FIA, we cannot do it with this one team. We have to have a rotation of two teams, when it comes to the staff on the ground.”

Stefano Domenicali, CEO, Formula One Group, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, President, FIA

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

But stating that Formula One Management is "sensible", Ben Sulayem acknowledged: “They never came back and said: ‘Oh, we need more.’ No way they did. What they are after is quality and that's why we have this good relationship with them.”

“I mean, I will not stop [them] to go to 25, because it is their right, OK? [In the end] it's up to them.

"But they are the ones who don't want to add [more races at the moment]. Because they know that it becomes [a matter] of fatigue then. So they have their own reasons [for keeping the amount of races on 24].”