‘Winter break’ is a bit of a misleading name for the off-season, isn’t it? Because, it really isn’t much of a break at all. Well, for most of the F1 circus anyway.
For some, the time between the final race of 2013 in November and the start of winter testing in January will be a bit more relaxing. There will be time to catch up with family and friends, chill out and prepare for the up-coming season.
However, others – often the unsung heroes of F1 – will be working flat-out back at the factories to get the 2014 cars and engines ready for the launch and first run at the Jerez circuit in just over a months’ time.
Then there are some members of the F1 paddock who are kept busy, but have time to reclaim their social life for a short burst before the travelling and hard work begins once again.
The first category applies mainly to the drivers. They have plenty of, well deserved, time to reflect on the last season and look forward to the next one.
Don't get me wrong though, winter isn't particularly easy for an F1 driver. Often they will be counting down the days until they can get back in the car and the work doesn't completely stop, they still have media and sponsor commitments and factory visits to complete.
They also have to prepare for the next season, not only by getting to know the cars, the new systems and the regulation changes but also physically, stepping up their training programme to make sure they are in tip top shape for 2014’s 19-race calendar - Jenson Button's trainer Mike Collier says F1 drivers are at their peak fitness for the year just prior to the first round in March. However, they do get some time away from their team factory to rest.
And now with the likes of Twitter and Facebook, we get an insight into what the drivers do on the off-season. Lewis Hamilton has been spending time with his dogs, Fernando Alonso has been sharing pictures of his training before heading to the Maranello simulator and there have been plenty of team Christmas parties.
However, there is no rest for the wicked back at the team’s headquarters. The design, manufacturing and engineering departments will be as busy as ever researching and creating parts for the next car, testing them and bringing the whole package together.
There are crash tests to pass, tight deadlines to meet and plenty of changes to implement before the up-coming season. The people behind the scenes don’t get much time off at all. Obviously they got to spend a few days relaxing over Christmas and New Year, but the team can’t afford to take focus off the season ahead for too long.
For example, more than 300 team members helped to design and make the Red Bull RB9 from 2013 - which features 100,000 components and 6,500 unique parts.
With such a big shake-up in the regulations, teams already appear to be concerned over making the deadline for the first winter test, with Lotus reportedly asking for it to be pushed back by a week. However, more promisingly, several teams have already had their chassis pass the mandatory crash tests.
Meanwhile, in the middle, the paddock media and journalists get to have a break from the sport before packing their suitcase once more for the new season. News tends to die down quite considerably over the off season, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t anything left to do.
This is when the writers break out their feature pieces, trying to fill the gap left by the lack of news to report on. I’ve certainly found that whilst I still have things to do, I have a bit more time to myself. This means I can catch up with friends and family, do my Christmas shopping and relax a bit more without worrying that I’m missing an announcement or a breaking news story.
For big F1 fans, the off-season is quite dull without the drama and excitement of a Formula 1 race weekend. However, we have plenty of that to come next season with the sport's new guise.
There will be aerodynamic changes, a new sound due to the V6 Turbo power-units, more stress on energy recovery systems and permanent numbers to get used to, to name just a few. The sport will look very different next season. But because of all these changes, it is so hard to predict and I can’t wait for the car launches to arrive.
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| (c) Getty Images |
However, others – often the unsung heroes of F1 – will be working flat-out back at the factories to get the 2014 cars and engines ready for the launch and first run at the Jerez circuit in just over a months’ time.
Then there are some members of the F1 paddock who are kept busy, but have time to reclaim their social life for a short burst before the travelling and hard work begins once again.
 |
| (c) Getty Images |
The first category applies mainly to the drivers. They have plenty of, well deserved, time to reflect on the last season and look forward to the next one.
Don't get me wrong though, winter isn't particularly easy for an F1 driver. Often they will be counting down the days until they can get back in the car and the work doesn't completely stop, they still have media and sponsor commitments and factory visits to complete.
They also have to prepare for the next season, not only by getting to know the cars, the new systems and the regulation changes but also physically, stepping up their training programme to make sure they are in tip top shape for 2014’s 19-race calendar - Jenson Button's trainer Mike Collier says F1 drivers are at their peak fitness for the year just prior to the first round in March. However, they do get some time away from their team factory to rest.
And now with the likes of Twitter and Facebook, we get an insight into what the drivers do on the off-season. Lewis Hamilton has been spending time with his dogs, Fernando Alonso has been sharing pictures of his training before heading to the Maranello simulator and there have been plenty of team Christmas parties.
However, there is no rest for the wicked back at the team’s headquarters. The design, manufacturing and engineering departments will be as busy as ever researching and creating parts for the next car, testing them and bringing the whole package together.
There are crash tests to pass, tight deadlines to meet and plenty of changes to implement before the up-coming season. The people behind the scenes don’t get much time off at all. Obviously they got to spend a few days relaxing over Christmas and New Year, but the team can’t afford to take focus off the season ahead for too long.
For example, more than 300 team members helped to design and make the Red Bull RB9 from 2013 - which features 100,000 components and 6,500 unique parts.
 |
| (c) Getty Images |
Meanwhile, in the middle, the paddock media and journalists get to have a break from the sport before packing their suitcase once more for the new season. News tends to die down quite considerably over the off season, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t anything left to do.
This is when the writers break out their feature pieces, trying to fill the gap left by the lack of news to report on. I’ve certainly found that whilst I still have things to do, I have a bit more time to myself. This means I can catch up with friends and family, do my Christmas shopping and relax a bit more without worrying that I’m missing an announcement or a breaking news story.
For big F1 fans, the off-season is quite dull without the drama and excitement of a Formula 1 race weekend. However, we have plenty of that to come next season with the sport's new guise.
There will be aerodynamic changes, a new sound due to the V6 Turbo power-units, more stress on energy recovery systems and permanent numbers to get used to, to name just a few. The sport will look very different next season. But because of all these changes, it is so hard to predict and I can’t wait for the car launches to arrive.
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