Verstappen criticises F1 over final part of calendar
Max Verstappen has criticised the final part of the season due to the time difference.
With three races left in the 2024 Formula 1 season, a challenging schedule awaits all drivers.
That’s because just days after Las Vegas, the team heads to a completely different destination, Qatar, and shortly after that, the season ends in Abu Dhabi.
Verstappen says the final stretch of 2024 will be tiring for everyone.
“As I always say, there are a lot of races on the calendar but for me the problem is the time difference between Vegas and Qatar,” said the Dutch driver.
The time in Qatar is 11 hours ahead of the US state of Nevada.
What’s more, the Las Vegas Grand Prix is run at night, which often has a negative impact on drivers accustomed to European times.
The flight distance between Vegas and Qatar is another reason why the two races are so tiring.
More than 13,000 kilometres have to be covered between Grand Prix weekends, which takes around 18 hours on a scheduled flight.
“If we’re going to have three races in a row, we need to make sure they’re a little bit closer together. That makes more sense to me,” the three-time world champion said.
“At the end of the season you get tired and it’s easy to get the flu. Long flights don’t help with that,” he said.
