Eddie Jordan has criticised the length of the F1 calendar, believing that 24 races are unfair to families in placing excessive demand on team employees.

The F1 calendar has slowly crept up in length in recent years, with the F1 2024 calendar boasting a record-breaking 24 Grands Prix alongside six Sprint races.

Eddie Jordan: 24 races is incredibly unfair on families

During Eddie Jordan’s time as a team boss in F1, the calendar was usually between 16 and 18 races – the last season of Jordan’s full involvement in 2004 had just 18 races.

But that figure has slowly but surely increased, with the rate of addition of new races accelerating following the purchase of Formula 1 by commercial rights holder Liberty Media.

The current 24-race calendar has met with regular criticism due to the relentless nature of the calendar, with World Champions Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso on the list of naysayers by deeming such a gruelling schedule as being “unsustainable”.

Appearing on the Formula For Success podcast alongside Grand Prix winner turned broadcaster David Coulthard, Jordan addressed the topic, saying, “24 races, my god, it’s too long, surely? Too long.”

Coulthard, whose broadcasting career with Channel 4 dovetails with his duties as devoted father to karting driver Dayton Coulthard, said he’d missed a third of the calendar in 2024 and felt that had been quite enough.

“24 races, six sprint races all over the world,” he said.

“I’ve got to say, I did 16. And on top of that, obviously, I’m busy doing other things with Dayton and other business and what have you.

“But 16 felt… it felt about right.

“I take my hat off to all the team members who don’t travel around the world with the same comfort as you would. 24 Grands Prix, they’ve definitely earned the break, haven’t they?”

Formula 1’s mandatory two-week winter shutdown has already ended, with work now fully underway to prepare the F1 2025 cars, as well as starting development work on the F1 2026 cars – the regulations permitted aerodynamic and CFD work on the cars for the new regulations to begin on January 1st.

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Jordan said the year-round work, on top of the 24-race calendar, is placing undue stress on the men and women of the paddock when it comes to trying to maintain a family life.

“The break is incredibly short, not like what we used to have, where it was always guaranteed to be over at the end of November, and it didn’t start till March time when we were off to Australia,” he said.

“But David, just spare a thought. You’re a father. I’m a father. I’ve got dozens of grandkids screaming around the place. Spare a thought for your family, because that is the most important thing in life.

“For people who don’t want to take time off or sabbaticals or, like you, can afford to only do 16 races, because, for you to do 16 races, it means they have to find somebody else to be equal to you who’s going to do the other eight.

“Now that’s not always going to be easy because different opinions on how things work, how you put the tyres on, how you do the tyre change, or whatever it is – these are all little factors that need to be considered.

“I think it’s very unfair. I think it’s incredibly unfair on families, children growing up, people at school, the lack of ability to be able to put your child to bed at night. I mean, it’s very tough.

“24 races, and the Sprint races on top of that, it’s just mad. It’s just glorified greed, isn’t it? It’s Liberty trying to make pots and pots of money and we shouldn’t be doing that.”

Coulthard pointed out that, if Jordan was still involved as a team boss, he’d likely be quite enjoying the extra money flowing into his team as a result of the increased number of races.

“It’s not just Liberty. In fairness, the teams, if you were still a team owner, you would be benefiting from that increased pot,” he said, “so would you not just be licking your chops if you were still a team owner?”

Jordan replied to say that, while the money would be welcome, there needs to be a limit to that.

“Money is money, and money in the team makes the team faster. There’s absolutely no doubt about that,” he said.

“But, at some stage, you need to draw a line, and you have to say, ‘Well, what is fair and reasonable?’

“I think 24 is no longer fair and reasonable. I think it’s too much. By your own admission, if it was 18 or 19, races, you probably would do the whole lot. But 24 is just pushing the boat too far out. And I think it deserves talking about.

“I have a great philosophy in life. I have little, little quirks that I often think about in my mind, and I often say less is more and less is more in most cases.

“Look at the NFL in the States, and you look at different sporting arenas – what’s going to happen is the smaller races are going to suffer, and the bigger races, like Monza, Monaco, the British Grand Prix, they’re going to thrive. They are already thriving.

“I just feel that the magnetism and the draw to the big races will be greater and less so to the smaller races.”

While there has been plenty of murmurings of discontent about the number of races on the calendar, the situation is unlikely to reverse – although F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has explained a rotation system for some races is likely to come into effect.

Speaking to Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport in an interview last year, Domenicali explained that concerns over F1’s oversaturation with the fanbase aren’t there.

“I don’t believe that 24 Grand Prix is an oversupply. Look at other sports,” he said.

“Soccer and basketball are played every other day. They entertain their fans much more intensively. In terms of quantity, we have much less content to offer. Nevertheless, compared to other sports, we are doing very well and growing. Everyone involved in our sport, in whatever way, should be happy with the situation.”

Asked outright whether that means an increase on the current 24-race figure is likely, Domenicali said the intention is currently to keep the number pegged.

“We want to keep it at 24 Grands Prix,” he said.

“But it’s wrong to say that 24 is too many. Too much of what? When the sport is as good as it is at the moment with many possible winners, the fans are counting the days until the next race.”

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