Teams need ’third car crew’ for 25 races

F1 teams will need to change their structures if Liberty Media pushes ahead with plans for up to 25 races in 2021.

The calendar is already expanding to an unprecedented 22 races next year, but the teams only agreed to that after demanding certain regulations compromises.

For instance, winter testing has been reduced to just six days, in-season testing has been scrapped, and there will be an extra allocation of one MGU-K unit per team per year.

"That’s going to make the lives of the technicians, the mechanics in the garage, an awful lot simpler," said Renault’s Cyril Abiteboul.

The teams are also being paid more - reportedly $1.2 million apiece - to attend the 22nd race.

But Alfa Romeo team manager Beat Zehnder told Auto Motor und Sport: "If we go to 24 or 25 races in 2021, we need a third car crew.

"The two crews cannot do any more than that," he added. Zehnder indicated that the three car crews would then rotate, with each separate crew getting the third race off.