Franz Tost, the CEO of AlphaTauri, has said that any of his workers who are dissatisfied with the stress imposed by a 23-race Formula One schedule in 2022 could “go.”
The proposed schedule for the 2022 Formula One season, which will run from the middle of March to the middle of November, will be revealed next week by F1 officials.
The high number of races crammed into the time frame means the return of the infamous triple headers, and there have been concerns that the pressures involved are driving F1 staff to their physical and mental limits.
However, Tost, who has previously stated that he prefers a full schedule, says that anyone working for his Formula One team must accept the challenges or find another job.
When asked about the potential stress on staff, Tost informed Motorsport.com: “We know now that we have 23 races. It’s fantastic, a good job from FOM, and I am looking forward to it.
“Regarding the people at the track. First of all, we are a race team. They all should be happy that we have as many races as possible and, of course, we take care of the people, for example the mechanics after a race weekend they have three days, four days off where they can stay at home. And also, press, marketing, all the people which are at the race track have some free days after the race weekend.
“For engineers it’s a little bit more difficult but also, if I remember back in former times, they had to go after a race weekend to tests which means that they also had to work there.
“I think we all should be happy that we are in a position to be in Formula 1 and to have 23 races. And if someone doesn’t like it, then he should go.”
However, not all team executives agree with Tost, with Aston Martin’s Otmar Szafnauer believing that everything must be done to protect personnel.
“It’s nice that we have 23 countries or 23 races that want us to come and compete and showcase Formula 1,” he said.
“However, we do have to be mindful of all the people that travel – the mechanics and the engineers – and we have put operations in place both back at the factory and at the race track to make the travel as comfortable as possible for them.
“This includes sometimes rotating people and some other organizational changes back at the factory, such that the factory will do more of the jobs that mechanics traditionally did at the track to just make it a little bit more pleasant for them.
“We look after them, including any mental health issues. We have a travelling doctor as well with us. We look after them as best we can.”
The uniforms of Formula One racing drivers are currently available at the following websites for a reasonable price:
