The radical F1 summer break change to break cycle of dominance

As all of the 10 F1 teams are now on their mandatory 14-day summer shutdown, we thought that we'd take a moment to propose a rule change that could mix up the second half of future seasons.

F1 is currently on its summer break, with no action taking place between the first weekend of August and the last weekend of August, when the Dutch Grand Prix will take centre stage.

During this four-week break from F1 action, teams have to at some point squeeze in a mandatory 14-day shut down period where factories, simulators and power unit manufacturers all have to completely shut down to ensure that all team personnel get a proper break.

FIA rules are there to not only protect F1 team staff's wellbeing, but also to ensure that none of the 10 teams are able to gain an advantage on their competitors while other teams are on a break.

But now we're going to ask, why is this the case? Why do Alpine - who are sat last in the constructors' championship with just 20 points from 14 events so far - have to adhere to the same rules as McLaren, who are sat 539 points better off at the top of the pile.

How can F1 make the season a fairer contest?

Here's what we propose. That summer shutdown time is allocated on a sliding pro-rate scale like with aerodynamic testing time.

Teams are allocated a certain amount of wind tunnel time each year depending on where they finished in the previous season's constructors' championship, and this allows teams lower down the order to potentially make bigger gains, as seen with McLaren across the 2023 season.

By adopting a similar rule with the summer shutdown, it could give the end of the season a more competitive feel, particularly in years like 2026 when car development will be crucial.

Now, the obvious argument against this would be that some team personnel might not get the break that they so desperately need and deserve by the time this stage of the year rolls around.

However, if the team last in the constructors' standings (this year Alpine) had to shutdown for the current period of 14 days and then the other positions would add a day onto that up to 23 days for the championship leaders, then everybody would be getting at least the current 14 days.

Teams could of course still choose to give their staff more time off rather than getting straight back on the horse too, if they wanted to, but they would have an option to get back into the factory early if they so desired.

Just imagine what design legend Adrian Newey could do at Aston Martin with four extra days compared to his rivals on the grid...

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