Esteban Ocon believes a 10-race Formula 1 season would still be “valid” in 2020.
Currently, the sport’s bosses are trying to put together a new schedule of between 15-18 races for this year after the first 10 Grands Prix were either cancelled or postponed due to the Coronavirus.
The minimum requirement for a valid championship by the FIA is only eight, but the number 15 is more crucial to F1 economically as reaching that figure would ensure receiving full payments from TV broadcasters, one of the biggest sources of revenue.
Still, from a sporting perspective, a shorter season brings its own challenges for teams and drivers, in particular less margin for error.
“There’s not going to be any joker [to play]. There’s no places to DNF. It’s going to be very important to finish all the races, score all the points available, and get it to the finish,” Ocon, who returns to F1 with Renault this year, explained to Sky Sports.
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“The more we can do the better it would be for a championship, but I agree that for a good 10 races or more if we can do that it would be still valid.
“There are enough races and it’s the same for everyone to determine who is the best and who’s not in the end.”
One way F1 is looking to boost the championship is by hosting back-to-back races at the same circuit, something that would be a first for the sport.
Some are wary of such an idea though, believing it could give some teams an unfair advantage to race twice at a track they are stronger at, Ocon though disagrees.
“Of course, if you win you want to come back and be winning again, but I had the experience of doing that in Formula 3 and DTM and it’s never the same results,” he said.
“When you come back you are stronger the second time. Things change and people work better on the second time or don’t improve enough, so it’s going to be very different if we do it like that.”