FIA President, Jean Todt In Trouble For Saying F1 Personnel Should Not Complain

FIA president Jean Todt comments chastising those in the league opposed to longer F1 seasons has elicited backlash from an engineer at the Haas team.

Todt claimed that people working in Formula 1 should not complain about heavier workload because of the expanded calendar, which will feature two other races.

He said the people in F1 are blessed to be in a world where they love what they do.

Todt added that they are privileged, and everyone in Formula 1 is walking around with higher salaries compared to other sectors, so they should be quite happy.

However, considering the plans to add the number of races every season to 25 in the coming years, the teams are becoming nervous about the pressure this will put on the crews because they are separated from their families for weeks and even months during hectic racing schedules.

Haas mechanic, Robert Dod, was furious at Todt's comments and ranted that he basically said the team personnel should be happy that they do not get to see their families.

He also stated that it was the opinion of a person who came to the races on Friday during the practice sessions and left on Sunday.

The team engineers and pit crews stay on for maintenance, repair, and strategizing, which can extend for a much longer time amidst the traveling from one destination to another.

Todt claimed that when he was working as the Ferrari team principal, he had an 18-hour work schedule and stated that if the family loves a person, they will understand. The situation is not permanent because one will allegedly not be doing that their entire life.

Dod's feelings were echoed by Gerard Quinn, who was a former engineer working for Ford in the World Rally Championship. Quinn intimated Todt's remarks were those of a person that travels in a private plane paid for by the institution.

He also said that if the families of the crew were not as supportive as they were, then the nature of the sport would not be the same. It falls on the FIA to understand this fact.

Worries about personnel burnout have led team personnel to remain quiet about Liberty Media's ideas of adding races to the calendar.

Todt is no stranger to controversy, though. At one time, he was in trouble for comparing the recent terror attacks in Paris to the number of road accidents that had killed people that year.