David Croft suggests a drastic change that could end decades-old FIA-F1 partnership

F1 commentator David Croft has stated that the owners of sport, Liberty Media, need more power than FIA in the current circumstances.

The current owners bought the sport in 2016 and have been responsible for its unprecedented growth around the world. Deals such as having a docuseries on Netflix and having more races in the USA have undoubtedly benefited the sport in terms of commercial aspects and popularity.

However, while appearing on the Sky Sports podcast, Croft said:

“First and foremost, I’d have to stop the FIA being the rule-makers. That’s the trouble the commercial rights holder (Liberty Media) has, it’s that they don’t make the rules – they can have an influence because they have a standing on the F1 Commission, but they don’t make the rules, the FIA does. I think the time has come in F1 actually to bring the two parties a lot more closely aligned.”

"They are a lot more closely aligned and these regulation changes had been driven by F1 rather than the FIA. But we need to think about the show and the spectacle. Marketing sometimes needs to be a bit more important than engineering. But we need to also keep that balance in engineering as well," Croft added.

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F1 pundit gives his take on the current calendar of the sport

It is being reported that in 2024, F1 will have 24 races, excluding the Sprint in the longest season in the sport's history. The decision to have so many race weekends has gotten mixed responses from everyone.

David Croft gave his take, saying:

“I think we’re getting there with the Sprint. But, personally, I think we’re at the limit for the number of races. I don’t think we need any more races and sometimes less is more on that one. We’ll do 24 next year, and then we’ll revisit it again – maybe 24 might be a bit too much."

"Because to actually ask people to invest so much time in the sport for 24 races, as fans, is asking a huge amount. But I understand why it’s happening," he added.

It will be interesting to see if there are any further changes in the calendar for the next season and if the teams on the grid propose fewer sprint weekends for 2024. The amount of traveling will surely put a strain on the performances of everyone working in the sport. Hence, it would be better if a balance can be achieved to avoid fatigue.