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Max Verstappen, as per Forbes, drew a whopping $45 million in salary alone in 2023. Despite that, former two-time world champion Mika Hakkinen recently said that he would have demanded more had he been in their shoes.
Speaking in a video posted by Unibet International on YouTube, Hakkinen said, “If I still drove in F1 and saw the number of races, I would have stern negotiations with the team about the compensation.”
Hakkinen highlighted how F1 had 22 races in 2023, a number which was going to increase to 24 in 2024. He also raised the pressing concern of fatigue that he himself witnessed during his visits to the races. While Hakkinen felt the number of races wasn’t as big a concern, the issue of back-to-back races was.
The 55-year-old’s concerns are not unfounded. The inaugural edition of the Las Vegas GP was a hectic one for drivers. Such was the condition of the drivers that George Russell, considered among the fittest ones, drove at the Abu Dhabi GP with a bad bout of cold and complained of constant coughing.
Drivers in the past and even recently have raised the issue of double or triple-headers. In fact, just a couple of days ago, Fernando Alonso raised the exact same issue of adding back-to-back races to the calendar. Verstappen, on the other hand, has been an advocate for changes in the calendar as well.
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Max Verstappen earlier criticized the Las Vegas Grand Prix as being more of a “show” than a race. His most recent critique of the race came in the form of a concern for himself and his fellow drivers.
Bashing F1 for scheduling it for odd hours, on the Chequered Flag podcast, he said, “I do think of course timing wise it would be better to drive a bit earlier because I really felt like a lot of drivers got ill after that race.”
“Traveling also to Abu Dhabi, it’s quite far, timezone shifts, your body really doesn’t know where you are at in the world, and especially so late in the season I think everyone was running a bit, in fumes I think,” he added.
Drivers have time and again spoken against double-headers. Each time, they have demanded amendments to the racing calendar, the numbers seem to have only increased.
In fact, F1 has gone a step ahead and featured triple-headers on the calendar recently. While the same makes for great entertainment for spectators, Hakkinen believes it takes a toll on the drivers and mechanics’ health.
It is not just the races and the circuit-related conditions that they have to adapt to. The constant travel, often inter-continental, results in continuous jet lag, culminating in chronic fatigue.
