James Vowles offers F1 change to increase to 26-race calendar

James Vowles has discussed the potential changes that could be introduced to Formula 1, arguing that the number of race weekends could work if they were only across two days.

While no changes have been confirmed yet, there has been talk of considering increasing the number of sprint races in a season, adding race weekends overall, introducing reverse grid races and shortening races. 

During an appearance on the Business of Sport podcast, the Williams chief explained that he does not think the number of races should be changed in the current format.

"I don’t think we have too many races, but I would not go above where we are at the moment because we’re asking people at home to be there for half a year. Half your weekends are [spent] watching Formula 1. I think that’s about the extreme end of where you can go to," he said.

However, the Briton argued that if two-day race weekends were introduced, more races would be possible per year.

"I would change [and] this is very much my opinion, I’ll put that out there, I would change to two-day weekends. I would do Saturday and Sunday," he continued.

"And here’s the reason why, we can do more at that point in time. I know I just said 24 [rounds] is the maximum, but I actually wouldn’t be concerned about the fact because we’ve given back Friday, which is one day.

James Vowles, Williams

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images

"If you added another two race weekends in, you’d still be net in the same amount of time that you were previously.

"And I think we can commercialise it in a different way. But, more than that, I think the product will be better because we do a lot of practice at the moment. Now, if you force us, you get one hour before qualifying, and that’s it. That’s quite a different proposition. So, I think you’ll get more variability and more randomness that comes out of it."