Mercedes has acknowledged that, after the 2023 Formula 1 season, they pushing for a personnel ban.
A cap on the number of events that Formula 1 personnel can attend has been discussed, according to Mercedes technical director James Allison, given the growing demand for travel.
A number of drivers in the paddock had taken sick leaves in the last laps of the 2023 Formula One season, which was cruel for everyone concerned.
The campaign was concluded with a doubleheader in Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi, so employees becoming sick shouldn’t be shocking given the 12-hour time difference between the two locations.
Even though they were traveling in first class or on a private plane, a few of the drivers expressed their weariness.
Team members don’t have this luxury, even though it’s crucial to safeguard their physical and mental health.
With a record-breaking 24 races in the 2024 Formula One season, this is more crucial than ever.
George Russell has previously emphasized that, given the difficulties in continually acclimating to new time zones and weather conditions, team and F1 personnel—apart from drivers—shouldn’t be traveling to every Grand Prix.
Changing players during the season has the drawback of increasing each team’s spending, which has an effect on the budget cap.
Allison has verified that discussions are on place to find a solution that will protect employees and lessen the amount of time they spend traveling annually.
According to Motorsport Week, Allison stated that if one is a traveler, they must complete winter testing as well, which means they spend over half the year on the road and in a physically taxing and demanding job.
“All the people back in the factory who give live support to that as well are having to take that burden on their shoulders.”
Allison came up with the concept to limit all employees, drivers excluded, to no more than 20 races year in order to address the problem.
Race engineers and team principals would be included in this cap, leaving it up to each team to come up with plans for handling the unavailability of specific individuals at specific events.
“Let’s say in a 24-race season, it would mean that no one, aside from the drivers, could participate in all 24 races; a cap would be imposed, perhaps at 20 races, to pick a number out of the air,” Allison clarified.
Everyone who had previously been required to do the entire slog would now only be able to complete 20 of them, and the teams would need to muster the strength to come up with other plans for handling each member of the traveling community’s absence four times a year.
“That will be an interesting set of gymnastics to cope with.”
