Red Bull team principal Christian Horner believes the Formula 1 calendar has reached its “saturation poiꦑnt” and should not expand beyond the current 21 races.

This season equals the most grands prix to be held across a campaign, while the provisional 2019 schedule featuresꦚ the same amo🔜unt of races with the championship concluding in December for the first time in over 50 years.

F1 owners Liberty Media has previously suggested the calendar could reach as many as 25 rounds, with new races in Vietnam and Miami set to be added in 2020. But the idea of going beyond the current 21-race limit has been met by resistance by a number of team bosses, including 🃏Horner.

“Twenty-one races, I think, is about saturation point,” Horner said. “There’s only so many chapters you can have in a book and I think at some point you go beyo♛nd what’s relevant. I think to go as low as 15 or 16 I think is too low but I think that 21 is the upper ꧑end.

“It’s tough. It’s tough for the guys in the garage, for the traveling staff, it’s tough for everybody involved and I think for the spectator and fans as well, beyond 21 races it reaches saturation,൩ so I think it’sไ finding that balance.

“I think the really encouraging thing is that there are s🌄ome great venues that want to host Formula 1 races and events and I think that that should provide natural competition for the venues that are already on the calendar.”

Sauber team boss Frederic Vasseur share♔d Horner’s concerns about the strain 🅰the calendar puts on team personnel and reckons 18 would be an ideal figure.

“For sure🃏 we will never go more than 21 because that is, from my point of view, far 🐈too much,” he explained.

“I think at on♚e stage also we are losing the exceptional of the event; the more races you are doing, everybody is used to and at one stage we have🧸 to keep the exceptional side of the races and for me it’s a bit too much but I will follow the calendar for sure. I won’t stop after 18 next year.”

But according to Toro Rosso team princ👍ipal Franz Tost, the most important factor is that quality prevails over⭕ quantity.

“I think it’s not the number of 🃏races or the size, it’s the show which we offer and the level of the entertainment,” Tost added. “If you have 15 boring races people will not watch any more. No, I think we should have around 20, 22 races and I think this is a good number and the exclusivity once more depends how good we are.

“We also should not fo🧜rget that we are a global player and therefore we need a certain number of raꦚces to stay a global player. And I would absolutely refuse to go below 20 races. The year has 52 weeks, therefore we have a lot of time.”