Which teams break the F1 summer shutdown? – For fans of Formula One, the summer break feels as though it lasts forever. The idea of a total factory shutdown was first mooted by Eddie Jordan way back in the year 2000. In his characteristically colourful fashion, he argued that the sport should mandate for employees to be given three weeks holiday in August, which included two consecutive weekends.

Of course paddock skeptics pointed to the fact that Jordan had just ordered a new yacht and planned to sail the Mediterranean in August. “We need a period where people can have a break, because we are dealing with a very busy calendar with 18 races,” countered Jordan. Despite being one of the fastest moving sports on the planet, the FIA finally mandated for a two week summer break for F1 employees in 2013.

There must be 24 days between the race weekend before there shutdown and the next Grand Prix after the summer break comes to an end. Within that time the team’s must close their factories entirely for two consecutive weeks – 14 days. The team’s are free to chose when the 14 day complete shutdown must be taken and most will now be firing their factories back up over this weekend.

 

 

 

Flexibility in summer break rules

Typically the teams allow for a debrief after the final race weekend of the first part of the season, then close for 14 days, before returning to plan and simulate the car setups required for the next Grand Prix weekend. With so little time to work on the car designs, its surprising how often one team appears after the August holidays and has improved its performance significantly.

So how rigid is this so-called “summer holiday”? And why do some teams return sharper than others despite everyone supposedly playing by the same rules? Even the brightest engineers need saving from themselves. That’s the logic behind the FIA’s decision to impose mandatory shutdowns during both summer and winter. Formula 1’s notorious workaholics would otherwise burn through 365 days a year – and their accountants’ budgets along with them.

The winter break is simple: nine calendar days beginning December 24. Yet summer, however, offers flexibility with each team submitting to the FIA the exact time period when they will release their employees for fourteen days. Yet each year rumours emerge of one team or another having breached the rules which would incur a fine or worse, even constructor points deductions could be part of any FIA sanctions.

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F1 factory lights never go out

The speculation is driven by reports of certain individuals being seen at their place of work, but now everybody within each the teams is barred by the FIA from doing any work. This means the lights in the factory never go out, with marketing, human resources, legal departments, and accounting are all permitted to continue working. Under UK employment law these individuals will receive a four weeks a year minimum holiday allowance, which can be taken whenever the company or the employee sees fit.

McLaren, leading the Constructors’ Championship, shut shop on August 11 this year. With the all-round excellence of the MCL39 making title defence look like a formality, and only Oscar Piastri’s rising ambition threatening to disturb Lando Norris’ leadership, Woking’s pause looked almost luxurious. Rivals, however, were desperate to use every second around the break to claw back ground.

The FIA draws strict lines. During shutdown, teams cannot use wind tunnels, run computer simulations, or work on production areas. Workshops may not touch current cars or their components. In the early days of the new summer rules, some teams outsourced their work in progress to other engineering entities, but this loophole has since been closed. Suppliers now must be notified of each times shutdown and they too are bound by the rules preventing any development work being done on any of the cars components.

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FIA disallows ‘thinking’

The summer break is policed by the FIA with the same scrutiny as the budget cap, often with cameras monitoring activity. Mercedes technical director James Allison summed it up: “We are not allowed to work, think, or do anything that could make an F1 car go quicker,” he dryly remarked. “It basically means we get to go home and have a holiday for 14 consecutive days!”

Mercedes COO Rob Thomas had this to say about the shutdown: “During the season you are on this treadmill of working so hard, and as the shutdown approaches you do start to notice that the team are starting to think about the break. You do not really notice how tired you are until you have that time off.

“When the team returns to work, you can tell they are refreshed, you can feel a renewed energy across the whole factory,” he concluded. The two FIA enforced breaks each year are opportunities for the teams during production downtime to update infrastructure, upgrade IT systems, and maintain machinery. Logistics departments can continue to work, as long as they steer clear of anything tied to the current car. Show cars may also be used – provided they bear no link to the present generation.

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Loopholes for windtunnel use

The wind tunnel and simulation ban also has loopholes. Projects with no relation to F1, or collaborations with other teams not on shutdown, are technically allowed. Since usage is already logged for budget cap monitoring, enforcement is easier than it sounds. The same shutdown restrictions apply to engine manufacturers.

Ironically, a lot of work goes into preparing not to work. Planning starts months ahead to ensure race reprocessing and prep for the next round aren’t compromised. The break is also an invaluable window for heavy maintenance – the one time equipment can be serviced without disrupting car development.

Standstill runs against F1’s DNA, but even in a sport addicted to marginal gains, the benefits are clear. The financial cost of halting production for two weeks is real, but the human benefits outweigh it. As Thomas put it, “The biggest winners are the families.” The rules are designed to block obvious exploits. Yes, teams can tinker on side projects or clean their factories until they shine, but they can’t build faster cars.

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Emails now banned by the FIA

Each year there are further loopholes closed, given no one can switch off completely from thinking about how they may make the cars quicker. This season, all emails between work colleagues are now banned, yet intrigue remains over how some teams emerge stronger after what should have been a period of inactivity for all car development work.

Yet the reality over the FIA’s shutdown is less about policing sneaky engineers than protecting them – and their bosses – from their own obsession. Because left unchecked, Formula 1 would never sleep.

 

 

 

F1’s record top speed to be smashed

To the causal viewer, it may be expected that as technology improves year on year, that Formula One cars would along with these advances become ever quicker. Of course in early part of 75 years of F1 racing, top speeds did increase pretty much year on year but come the 1970’s, a renewed focus on safety saw the FIA regulate so they cars would take a step backwards.

Of course as the F1 cars have almost increased by 50% in weight since the turn of the millennium, this naturally means they are slower in many of the low speed corners today than in yesteryear, although this is compensated by the eye watering acceleration due the introduction of electrical power where torque is instant.Yet the FIA periodically introduces regulation changes which slow the cars when compared to the previous year, the latest of these was in 2022. Ground effect car designs were once again allowed having been banned in the early 1980’s due to safety concerns. The new designs which relied heavily on the underfloor for around half the total downforce were more than a second a lap slower than their predecessors.

Yet the FIA periodically introduces regulation changes which slow the cars when compared to the previous year, the latest of these was in 2022. Ground effect car designs were once again allowed having been banned in the early 1980’s due to safety concerns. The new designs which relied heavily on the underfloor for around half the total downforce were more than a second a lap slower than their predecessors…. READ MORE