Franz Tost slams concerns over 24-race F1 calendar

Former Formula 1 team boss Franz Tost has strongly dismissed the growing belief that the sport's calendar has become overloaded with too many races.

With 24 grands prix on the 2024 and 2025 schedules, concerns have been raised—particularly regarding the physical toll on F1 team personnel such as mechanics and engineers.

However, Tost, who stepped down as Alpha Tauri's team principal at the end of 2023, strongly disagrees.

"People always say that the mechanics are overworked," he told Sport Marke Medien. "That's a total joke. They are not overworked at all.

"I think 24 races is totally ok."

Tost recalled how much tougher the F1 schedule was when he first entered the sport in the 1990s, supporting Ralf Schumacher.

"We had the race at the weekend and we tested on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday," he said. "At the beginning, we even had two (test) cars. And it was always the same mechanics and engineers. I never heard a complaint from them back then.

"Now, there is a curfew in Formula 1, which means that it's over at 9 in the evening until 8am the next day. Jesus! What more do they want? They get to work in Formula 1—that's a privilege.

"This whole work-life balance, all this crap, it's totally pointless. You don't need anything like that. It's something for people who are too lazy to work."

Some argue that F1 should return to a more balanced schedule with fewer races, supplemented by the return of intense on-track testing. But Tost is adamantly against that idea.

"If you say you have to test, that's an old way of thinking," he said. "You don't have to test at all. Testing is the most pointless thing ever.

"It's just a tool for the engineers so they can play around. It's all pointless. The money is earned at the races. The more races you do, the more money Formula 1 makes."

In fact, Tost believes that F1's schedule could expand beyond the current 24-race season. "The year has 52 weeks," he pointed out. "Every other week would make sense. There could be 26 races.

"And I'm not saying that now because I'm retired. I've always said that before too. I always had heated discussions with my former colleagues. They said, 'That's far too much—18 to 20 races is the maximum.'

"I always asked them, 'What are you? Are you a racing team or a holiday team?'"