Summer shutdown – Why does F1 fall silent for two weeks?

Some hate it while others give a warm welcome to it. Fans might miss Formula One badly during its disappearance, but team members happily take the chance of charging up their batteries while being away from race action.

Over the last championship seasons, summer shutdown has become a lengthy period during August when Formula One exhales its tiredness from the first half of the season and in the meantime prepares itself for the similarly intense and action-packed second period.

The three-week-long summer break encompasses a period which is usually referred to as summer shutdown.

The word describes not only the weeks without racing action, but it is actually a real stoppage. Article 24.1 of the Sporting Regulations obliges all teams to have a two-week-long period in August when their activities are heavily restricted.

The rule states: " All Competitors must observe two shutdown periods: The first period of fourteen (14) consecutive calendar days during the months of July and/or August.

"If two consecutive Competitions during this period are separated by only seventeen (17) days a shutdown period of thirteen (13) consecutive calendar days must be observed.

"In either case Competitors should notify the FIA of their intended shutdown period within thirty (30) days of the start of the Championship."

The summer shutdown was introduced as part of cost-cutting measures. The costly development race is suddenly abandoned for two weeks which teams can save up huge amounts of resources with.

Secondly, race calendars have become extremely long. If you think of the inaugural season of Formula One which consisted of seven race events, then the current 24-race-long calendar might seem crazily long, taking also into consideration that Formula One visits 22 countries in 5 continents.

Factories fall silent. Almost absolutely silent. Any work which intends to enhance the car performance is strictly forbidden during the period. It means that the Design Office, Machine Shop, Test and Development Department are empty and even some suppliers are affected by this shutdown.

According to the restrictions, "during the shutdown periods no Competitor or affiliate to a Competitor may carry out or instruct a third party supplier to carry out any of the following activities for or on behalf of the Competitor:

a) Operation or use of any wind tunnel, except as specifically permitted by Article 24.4.

b) Operation or use of any computer resource for CFD Simulations, except as specifically permitted by Article 24.4.

c) Production or development of wind tunnel parts, car parts, test parts or tooling.

d) Sub-assembly of car parts or assembly of cars.

e) Any work activity by any employee, consultant or sub-contractor engaged in design, development or production (excluding any work activity to be undertaken at the circuit in preparation for the Competition immediately following the shutdown periods).

However, some departments can stay open without any restrictions. Those include the Marketing, Finance and Legal Departments as these do not have direct impact on the car performance."

Interestingly, teams can define themselves which part of the summer break they nominate as the shutdown period, but this should be continuous.

This break flies by quickly and once it is over, the factory is buzzing with noise again and every team member start pushing as hard as ever to end the season in the best possible way.