The upcoming Miami Grand Prix will be the first Formula 1 race not to be part of a double- or triple-header since last year’s Canadian Grand Prix on 9 June 2024.
That is a consequence of the expansion of the calendar, which averaged 16 races per season in the 1980s and 1990s but gradually increased to the current 24 over the past two decades or so.
Up until 2003, grands prix were consistently organised every two weeks, with very occasional double-headers. Consecutive races progressively became the norm in subsequent years.
2018 was a milestone in that regard because it was the first season to include a triple-header, with Le Castellet, Red Bull Ring and Silverstone hosting F1 on successive weekends. That calendar was the first to be conceived under F1’s new owners Liberty Media and was announced in June 2017.
At the time, the triple-header was viewed with great concern. “A Formula 1 car has a life on every component, and some of those parts can’t do three grands prix in a row,” Toro Rosso team manager Graham Watson told Motorsport.com at the time.
However, the main worry was the strain on human resources. “Mentally and physically it’s really tiring, more than people realise,” Watson said, with his views echoed by most team bosses.
Drivers did not mind – some actually enjoyed it from a personal standpoint. But they were aware of conditions being much tougher for their teams, especially mechanics.
“I think for drivers it’s ok, but just for the rest of the crew it’s tremendous – the work that these people do, the mechanics, the catering, etc., it’s tremendous,” Force India driver Sergio Perez insisted.
Mechanics did not have things easy in 2018 with a very first triple-header
Photo by: Andrew Hone / Motorsport Images
The triple-header took place without any notable incidents, with a trio of victors: Lewis Hamilton came out on top in France, Max Verstappen triumphed in Austria and Sebastian Vettel won on his title rival’s turf in Great Britain.
“For the drivers, it’s probably not so bad,” Renault racer Nico Hulkenberg agreed. “I think a lot of the team personnel, they are knackered. For us it’s a bit more comfortable, we don’t have to work every day like many of the team members – they have their three weeks flat out basically, working every day without breaks.”
In the Silverstone paddock, there was consensus on F1 preferably steering clear of triple-headers in the future.
“My understanding is [the calendar is] most likely not going to have a triple-header again next year,” said McLaren CEO Zak Brown. “I think most of the teams, if not all of the teams, would probably not prefer three races.”
“F1 is pretty good at getting over logistical and technical challenges, that’s what we’re best at. But it comes at a cost, financial and human,” Haas team boss Guenther Steiner pointed out. “We can do everything – four in a row or five in a row – but do we really want to do that? Is it worthwhile?”
Team principals were outspoken against triple-headers in their dedicated FIA press conference at Silverstone
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
“The most important thing is the people,” Claire Williams added. “They put in an enormous effort, and when they’re not able to get home, it is a tough thing for them and for their families.
“Maybe we’ve learned our lesson that it is quite a tough gig for everybody.”
The 21-race 2019 calendar thus featured merely five double-headers. F1’s sporting director at the time, Steve Nielsen, said that adding a triple-header to the schedule in the future was “not something we’d undertake lightly” and would not be an option on the world championship’s core continent.
“In Europe we have large hospitality units,” Nielsen explained. “They are unique, but constructing and deconstructing them is enormously time-consuming and hugely expensive in terms of manpower, etc. So if we were to do something like a triple-header, I think it would be at flyaways.”
The initial 2020 calendar featured a record-breaking 22 grands prix, including seven double-headers – meaning only eight races were standalones.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc, with lockdown and social distancing measures meaning the season was unable to get under way until July.
The flowing Mugello track concluded F1 2020’s third triple-header – nine race in 11 weekends
Photo by: Charles Coates / Motorsport Images
As a consequence, the eventual 2020 schedule was comprised of a whopping 17 grands prix in just over five months. Three triple-headers were followed by standalones at Sochi and Nurburgring, then the only double-header, another standalone in Turkey, and a final triple-header.
“Given the special circumstances we are in this year, it’s something we simply have to get through this year,” Andreas Seidl, then McLaren’s team principal, said. “But at the same time, this cannot be the new standard going forward.”
Yet, triple-headers were no longer eschewed. There were two of them in 2021, just one in 2022, and another in 2023. The 2024 campaign, with its record-breaking 24 events, included three triple-headers, with some gruelling travel on the cards: Spain-Austria-Britain, USA-Mexico-Brazil, Las Vegas-Qatar-Abu Dhabi.
2025 is no different: F1 has just got through a Japan-Bahrain-Saudi Arabia series of races before Italy-Monaco-Spain and, again, Las Vegas-Qatar-Abu Dhabi later this year.
How did this happen, one might wonder, given how reluctant the paddock used to be?
The situation is very similar when it comes to the number of races. In 2017, Fernando Alonso claimed he would retire if F1 ever had 25-round calendars. Lewis Hamilton said the following year: “I’m not going to be here when it gets to 25, that’s for sure.” This was a popular stance among drivers in the 2010s. Well, we’re on 24 grands prix – and both Hamilton and Alonso are still here.
Hamilton was having the time of his life in 2018, but remained wary of how additional races would impact the paddock
Photo by: Erik Junius
The bottom line is, humans easily get used to anything if the change is gradual. Twenty years ago, a 20-race schedule was viewed as a hard limit, but the Overton window keeps shifting.
This does not mean that triple-headers are good – nor are we trying to argue they are inherently bad. Simply, in the absence of any more backlash, if F1 benefits from them financially, triple-headers are here to stay.
