EXCLUSIVE: F1 champion insists season NOT too long for drivers

Formula 1 and the FIA revealed the 2025 championship calendar in the days following the Japanese GP.

The earlier-than-usual announcement sees the sport visiting the same 24 venues as in 2024 to equal this year's longest-ever season.

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Although that's a lot of racing time for the drivers, it's not those who sit in the cockpit who suffer most.

In fact, drivers shouldn't complain at the season length, says an F1 champion who acknowledged the demanding travel is far worse for the teams' mechanics.

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F1 vs NASCAR

Speaking exclusively with GPFans, 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve admitted that he's not a fan of the 24-race calendar, saying, "I feel the season's a little bit long. You get to a point where, 'Oh, another race.'

"I don't know if it's long as in there's too many races or too long as in it starts too early in the season and then finishes too close to Christmas. By Christmas, you want to see skiers! You get to that point; you need the change."

However, the French-Canadian racer noted F1 isn't the busiest championship in motorsport, and admitted, "But then you just look at NASCAR; they have 36 race weekends, and everybody's happy with that.

"So, it's maybe it's a habit, something that just needs to change in our way and habits.

"But the NASCAR season finishes earlier. All the races are concise together, and maybe that's the issue... starting at the end of February and finishing mid or beginning of December, that's what's too long."

That's something the FIA and Formula 1 have remedied a little for 2025, at least, with Round 1 coming in mid-March, two weeks later than in 2024.

F1 drivers 'can't complain'

Irrespective of the calendar's length, Villeneuve points out that drivers are used to driving the car a lot in a year, even if they weren't racing.

"Remember, drivers used to do race weekends, three days testing, race weekend, three days testing. And there was no summer break; there was no break in winter. It was just continuous.

"So, driver-wise, right now, [they] can't complain. It's hard on the mechanics. When there was testing, you had a team for testing and a team for racing. But now, it's almost the same amount of travelling and work but with only one team.

"Mechanics, they don't share the season, so I think these are the ones on whom it's really tough, and really, really hard."

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