Four Week Break...

[555-04Q2]

...who's the dumba$$ who came up with this four week break?

I got a loaded gun ready for the buffoon responsible :devil:

[SGWilko]

...who's the dumba$$ who came up with this four week break?

I got a loaded gun ready for the buffoon responsible :devil:

A knackered mechanic, an irate mechanic's wife?????

[Stuartf12007]

staff being tired is a poor excuse, surely jobs can be covered by someone else so they can have a few days off?

drop the 4 week break and add an extra 2 grandprix's to the calender i say.

[Bagwan]

Damn straight .

These guys make money .
There are loads of others who would give thier right arm to sit in for a guy on the beach .

And the rest of those few actually making million$ can cry me a river .

This is the big time .
Vacation later .


I work for myself and haven't been to my own cottage in three years .
Suck it up .

[tfp]

I dont mind the four week break either, because it gives mclaren a chance to catch up with the rest of the field :D

Do the teams really just nap for our weeks though? I always thought the development of the cars were more important to the teams rather than having a break :)

I wonder if any of the current drivers get drunk for a month like kimi or the irv :laugh:

[tfp]

I'm not too bothered by the 4 week break personally as it gives me a chance to enjoy the summer without worrying about missing a race for August at least. I can spend the weekends playing golf, having BBQ's, and spending time at my in law's cottage in Tenby. The downside is the return to the calendar happens to be my favourite race of the season and my first wedding anniversary, so that'll be a recorded race for me... Downer.

You let your wife come between yourself and a formula 1 race?? And you call yourself a fan ;) :laugh:

[SGWilko]

Damn straight .

These guys make money .
There are loads of others who would give thier right arm to sit in for a guy on the beach .

And the rest of those few actually making million$ can cry me a river .

This is the big time .
Vacation later .


I work for myself and haven't been to my own cottage in three years .
Suck it up .

The guys doing most of the work, with multiple roles, earn a lot less than you'd think.

If you've not been to your cottage for that long, watever it is your doing, you aint doin it right!!!

[tfp]

The guys doing most of the work, with multiple roles, earn a lot less than you'd think.

If you've not been to your cottage for that long, watever it is your doing, you aint doin it right!!!

Funny to think, perhaps most of the people who do the majority of the work dont get any credit for what they do. I saw the tour the williams team gave to eddie jordan, the amount of work that goes into the cars is incredible.

[The Black Knight]

I'm not too bothered by the 4 week break personally as it gives me a chance to enjoy the summer without worrying about missing a race for August at least. I can spend the weekends playing golf, having BBQ's, and spending time at my in law's cottage in Tenby. The downside is the return to the calendar happens to be my favourite race of the season and my first wedding anniversary, so that'll be a recorded race for me... Downer.

Congratulations on having the anniversary coming up soon, henners.

I think my g/f knows better than to come in between myself and my F1 though :p She knows where my passions lies. I never miss a race live. It would seriously have to be a life or death situation for me to miss a race.

I'm Ok with this two week break. You can pay a man millions but in the end his body will only do so much. A lot of these mechanics and engineers spend so much time on the road it's amazing they don't burn out more often. It's not easy work by any means and come mid season it's only fair they get a break. I would rather there be racing, of course, but people need holidays.

[steveaki13]

Congratulations on having the anniversary coming up soon, henners.

I think my g/f knows better than to come in between myself and my F1 though :p She knows where my passions lies. I never miss a race live. It would seriously have to be a life or death situation for me to miss a race.

I'm Ok with this two week break. You can pay a man millions but in the end his body will only do so much. A lot of these mechanics and engineers spend so much time on the road it's amazing they don't burn out more often. It's not easy work by any means and come mid season it's only fair they get a break. I would rather there be racing, of course, but people need holidays.

Agree 100%

[steveaki13]

I will also add happy Anniversary Henners.

[Bagwan]

The guys doing most of the work, with multiple roles, earn a lot less than you'd think.

If you've not been to your cottage for that long, watever it is your doing, you aint doin it right!!!

Just as a matter of interest , what is a lot less than I'd think ?

My cottage is hurting a lot from my not being there , as I'm the guy that fixes things , but I've got many other irons in the fire .
I don't think I've gotten there for more than four days in a row in about ten years .

It would make more sense for these guys to take two two-week breaks .
Asking the fan to "stay tuned" for four weeks , in a world that fusses about a two second wait on high-speed is asking a lot these days .

[Bagwan]

First anniversary - Paper .

Give her paper money for a spa or a trip to the favourite store or a great dinner in return for some quiet with your TV .

[SGWilko]

Or buy her a rare LP of Paper Plane by the Quo........

[Kevincal]

4 weeks is too much... 3 weeks max.

[steveaki13]

I have to admit I am a bit bored but still it will only make the next race seem better. Hopefully

[ioan]

Doesn't bother me at all, I have so many things to do I barely can catch some sleep even during holidays.

[i_max2k2]

I'm not bothered either, and I think its good for everyone actively involved in the sport. Other then this the winter break seems to be short as well, when they start working with next years car.

And Happy Anniversary Henners!

[F1boat]

I have no problem with the break. I will likely watch even the Belgian GP taped, because I plan to go to the mountain in the end of the next week.

[ioan]

Naughty!! haha... I know what you mean though ioan, I'm pretty tired lately myself.. ;)

:D Life ain't easy nowadays. Looking forward to my retirement, in about 35-40 years, if ever by the looks of things right now!

[anthonyvop]

You can pay a man millions but in the end his body will only do so much. A lot of these mechanics and engineers spend so much time on the road it's amazing they don't burn out more often. It's not easy work by any means and come mid season it's only fair they get a break. I would rather there be racing, of course, but people need holidays.

Being an F-1 mechanic is a privileged not a right. The long break is bad for the series as it dilutes the momentum. I have no problem with individual teams providing long vacation times but when it is mandated it is wrong.

BTW The NASCAR season is longer with no real breaks all season and their mechanics work just as hard,

[Mark]

I too don't like the inconsistency of it all. I don't like the 3/4 week break but I also don't much care for back to back races too.

In my opinion the season should start in the first week in March and end in the last week in October and have a race every two weeks, without fail. You can still have 18 races under this arrangement.

[IceWizard]

I like having a break as it increases the anticipation before the title run in - in years when it isn't a foregone conclusion by August anyway.

[F1boat]

I like having a break as it increases the anticipation before the title run in - in years when it isn't a foregone conclusion by August anyway.

It's not over till its over.

[SGWilko]

It's not over till its over.

Thanks Lenny K ;)

[Kevincal]

obviously the only way vettel wont win wdc is if he is injured. chances of that happening like 1%

I agree with the above poster, a race ever 2 weeks without fail would be the best, and allow between race testing, among other things. the way it is now the best car at the start of season wins wdc and wcc, it sucks, i wish things would change more during the season (we need in season testing back...) :( instead of the stupid 4 week break there could have been lots of great testing and a nice mix up at Spa instead of probably the same old running order...

and please tell me, these mechanics, what exactly do they do on monday through thursday instead of unloading some trucks of gear? I will tell you, they sit around eating the best food and sleeping in the nicest hotels (i noticed many of the mechanics are fat)... way better than 99% of us and I bet most of us work harder than them and make a lot less money. And the drivers have to work even less than the mechanics and obviously make loads of money... pfft. I bet a good many of us here on these forums who are in top physical shape could race f1 competitively after a good amount of practice. ;) In my opinion there should be more f1 races and less breaks... ;) I think Ayrton Senna would agree! ;)

[steveaki13]

A little bit of F1 interest during the 4 week break.

Mark Webber will be on Test Match Special on BBC 5 live sports extra or Radio 4 long wave having a chat about F1 and his love of Cricket at Lunch. Between 1pm and 1:40pm

If anyone is interested

[Retro Formula 1]

Get her abog roll mate. That'sone bit of paper she will thank you for one day :D

(And they seem to use so much of it too!!)

As for the break, I don't mind it but I do agree with Mark that it would be better if we had a 2 week calender with no break.

[Mark]

I'm sure the race mechanics also have jobs back at the factory too. They don't sit around when not at races.

But I do tend to agree that they have a cushy job and schedules shouldn't be written to accommodate them.

[The Black Knight]

Being an F-1 mechanic is a privileged not a right. The long break is bad for the series as it dilutes the momentum. I have no problem with individual teams providing long vacation times but when it is mandated it is wrong.

BTW The NASCAR season is longer with no real breaks all season and their mechanics work just as hard,

I see your point but Nascar mechanics don't have to travel all over the world. It's some serious jet lag that F1 mechanics suffer in one year. I agree though, overall it is bad for the sport but I do agree that it has to be done in order to avoid burnout.

[N. Jones]

Are we ready to race yet? It feels like the last race was held in December!