Russell doesn't mind: 'I hear Max's comments all the time'

Next year there are 24 races on the F1 calendar again. If the races all go ahead then the record length of an F1 season will be broken by as many as two races. According to Max Verstappen, that is problematic, George Russell sees it quite differently.

The more races, the better for Russell

The 2024 F1 calendar starts as early as the end of February and ends in early December. The length of the season already puts a lot of strain on F1 drivers and F1 personnel, but the number of races has never been so much either. For Verstappen, plenty to complain about, but the Mercedes driver explains himself further to GPblog and others: "I hear Max's comments all the time. I'm doing what I love and I'm almost more the, merrier to a certain extent."

Russell continued: "We're the most fortunate, privileged people in the world to be Formula 1 drivers. Of course, there's a huge amount of events. There's a lot of things that come with it. I would happily take more races but less commitments outside of the race weekend. I know, obviously, Red Bull probably work them quite hard on a marketing perspective."

Russell sees that the layout of the 2024 calendar is better than before. It seems a bit more efficient, but it won't be easy. Russell: "It's still going to be pretty brutal for  all of us travelling to and from the races, especially the first four races. I think you have Australia, Japan, China. But again, it's work in progress and it's going in the right direction."

Russell jokes about Verstappen

When Russell is asked if he knows why Verstappen is 'whining' so much about the long calendar, the Mercedes driver responds with a joke: "I think he's whining because he wants more money." The Briton continued in a more serious tone: "He's the highest paid on this grid and rightly so for what he's achieving, but I think it's all a big tactic of his threat of retirement  and whatnot. I hope he doesn't. I hope he stays for as long as I stay because I want to fight against the best drivers in the world."