F1 takes a well deserved break

The agreement

The 2010 season is long, it involves 19 races so all the teams in the paddock have signed an agreement saying that they must have a break from not only racing but also the production and development of their cars. The teams are allowed either 5 days after Hungary for development or 5 days before Belgium to prepare their cars but in between then the teams must close their factories and wind tunnels. Force India even close down their emails for the break so that the teams can have a proper relaxation and spend time with their families.

What the leading teams need to do after the break

Red Bull – Red Bull have clearly been the team to beat this season and that has only been confirmed by their dominance in Budapest. The Red Bull on pole of Sebastian Vettel was 1.2 seconds ahead of the next non-Red Bull car of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso. This is compared to Hungary 2009 when the top five drivers were split by only 0.3 seconds. As long as Red Bull continue with their development cycle and keep the team relationship comfortable then they will remain the team to beat this season and barring bad luck should take both championships.

McLaren – widely regarded as the development and comeback kings need desperately to live up to their name if their championship hopes are to remain alive. Since the team seemed to be closing in on the Red Bull duo all has collapsed. The introduction of their rear-blown diffuser seems to have back fired at a critical time in the championship. With only 7 more races McLaren need to make sure that their developments work and work well so they can claw back the deficit to the Red Bulls.

Team Principal Martin Whitmarsh said "After the summer shutdown we'll come back fully refreshed and utterly determined to apply ourselves as hard as is humanly possible to take World Championship honours this season.” Let’s hope for McLaren’s sake that the team live up to Martin’s word.

Ferrari – After two good results in both Hockenheim and Budapest, regardless of controversy, they seem to be closing the gap in terms of points. However it is not that simple because as stated above the team’s car is still 1.2 seconds off the Red Bull pace and so after the break Ferrari will be looking to further their developments and try and find that extra time.

The team now have fully backed Alonso as their only chance of the drivers world championship (and rightly so) but they need to maintain a good level of teamwork so as not to alienate Massa and cause conflict within the team

The conclusion

Finding 1.2 seconds in Formula 1 is no easy feat. The rear blown diffuser is supposed to be worth only about 0.3 seconds which is normally a massive gain but against the Red Bulls it seems to be a pathetic amount. As soon as these teams get back to work in a months time they are going to have to work rigorously and have to re-invent their cars if Ferrari and McLaren are to have a chance at beating the Red Bulls.

Ferrari and McLaren maybe taking a break from their factories and offices but the 1.2 second deficit will be causing many a sleepless night as the engineers struggle to get their minds around the speed of Adrian Newey’s magnificent design.

Posted by Sean Russell - Follow him on twitter @SeanRussellF1.

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