Is F1 in danger of becoming oversaturated?
With another record breaking crowd at Silverstone and the big break into the American market could F1 soon become oversaturated...
With Formula 1's popularity the biggest it has ever been discussions between FOM and race organisers are constant with rumours of old circuits leaving and new ones coming in. The question is however if teams can handle an extended season of up to 24 races.
Netflix series 'Drive to Survive' has brought more fans in than ever and with that the market for more races has opened up. The current concord agreement between teams and F1 allowes for their to be 24 races in a calendar. This has put classic circuits such as Spa and Monaco to come under threat from being dropped from the calendar to make room for new circuits.
Discussions are already on going for a Grand Prix in South Africa at the Kyalami International Circuit, a track that pre-DTS fans have wanted featured on the calendar the last few years. F1 is on the rise in the US after finally breaking into that huge market which sees them get three seperate races in 2023.
The main effect a 24 race calendar will have is team personell becoming ever more tired from travelling and being away from their family for more than half a year. Teams are already switching out its crew through the season so that they aren't travelling as much but senior management could become more tired of travelling.
F1 is becoming more mainstream than ever but it's not always a bad thing but it can be damaging. With them promising to cut down on their carbon foot print and become net neutral F1 adding more races to the calendar contradicts between them wanting to become eco friendly and them further improving their profits.
The 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last year was the most watched sporting event by fans with 108.7 million veiwers for race day to watch the showdown between title rivals Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen who went into the race tied on points. This race and the season as a whole massively proved that F1 was here to stay.
Viewership in the US, UK, Netherlands, France and Italy all saw huge rises in their F1 audience. By the end of the season the total TV audience was 1.55 billion viewers and the demand for F1 in more countries has grown unbelievable masses in recent years since the COVID-19 pandemic.