The very busy calendar that Formula 1 and all the parties involved will be called to face next season has alarmed several people. It is difficult to think that things could remain as they are today.
The 2023 F1 season will include too more races as compared to the current championship and this will lead to the need for extra energy and time, which is complicated for each person to manage. Many continental and intercontinental journeys, tight schedules for each trip, endless hours of work on the race weekend, despite the usual curfew at night, which has become a glass of fresh water in an infinite desert.
This is why the Formula 1 teams are in talks to introduce a winter break in the next season’s sporting regulations as early as 2023 to promote the well-being of the staff of each team. Currently the break exists: two weeks of summer break enshrined in the regulation that guarantees staff a rest period during the entire season, forcing the teams to suspend their activities.
Although all teams guarantee staff holidays during the holiday season and winter, sporting regulations do not provide for any rules that require activities to be suspended during the cold season.
But as part of the talks within the F1 Sports Advisory Committee, where the teams are represented by their respective sporting directors, it emerged that a winter break has been proposed. In this way, Formula 1 would adopt an approach similar to that of the summer break, inserting in the regulation a fixed period in which all teams are required to suspend operations and staff members will be entitled to holidays.
Show your support for Scuderia Ferrari with official merchandise collection! Click here to enter the F1 online Store and shop securely! And also get your F1 tickets for every race with VIP hospitality and unparalleled insider access. Click here for the best offers to support Charles and Carlos from the track!
According to what Motorsport.com has learned, the proposal has not yet reached an advanced stage, nor is there total unanimity among the teams. But the indications have been positive. According to Mercedes F1 team principal Toto Wolff, the winter break would be an important step to protect the well-being of the staff.
“Many of us team principals would like to replicate what we already do in the summer break, at least starting from Christmas until the new year, for two weeks. Of course we can still discuss it, but there has been a positive indication for the well-being of the people.”.
After a 2021 that ended in late December, the presence of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar (which takes place from 20 November to 18 December 2022), led Formula 1 to make changes to the 2022 calendar and end the season early in November. Furthermore, next season there will be only a pre-season testing session which will be held in Bahrain, as the Bahrain International Circuit will also host the first round of the 2023 Formula 1 World Championship. For the F1 team staff, therefore, a longer winter break than last year is expected and the longest in many years now.
Leave a Reply