F1 warned over calendar choices after MotoGP struggles

Alfa Romeo team principal Fred Vasseur has warned F1 must avoid the cargo issues experienced by MotoGP and has urged caution when determining its race calendars.

The Australian Grand Prix was a standalone event between Saudi Arabia and Imola, meaning increased travel for freight as it had to be taken to and from Melbourne, then shipped on swiftly to Italy.

Whilst the rise in cost for freight has been problematic and prompted calls from Red Bull team principal Christian Horner for a rethink of F1's budget cap, arrival times have also been affected by recent societal issues, including the escalation of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Haas missed the first day of Bahrain testing after cargo delays whilst MotoGP had to cancel the entirety of its Friday practice programme for similar reasons at its Argentine round.

The placing of Albert Park's race drew criticism from drivers over the weekend, prompting queries over the logistical challenges of Australia being a standalone event.

"It's true that with more and more races on the calendar one of the key aspects of our business will become the freight quite soon," said Vasseur.

"Not just for us, but I think it's already the case in MotoGP or some other events.

"We'll have to take care about the circuits that we are doing and the way that we are organising the race because at one stage it will become tricky to be on time for every single event.

"But to be the first, second or third race in the championship, I'm not sure it makes a big difference because before race one we have testing.

"It's even more challenging for us to do race one in Australia because very often we are not ready for race one."

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