F1 teams concerned about loss of summer break in 2009

The 2009 Formula One calendar counts one Grand Prix more than the 2008 calendar. This means that there won't be a traditional mid-summer break of at least three weeks in August. Some of the leading Formula One bosses have already expressed their concern about the loss of this much-needed resting period for their employees.

Honda's Ross Brawn declared to 'ITV' that he believes teams will have to recruit extra mechanics to avoid exhausting their squads.

"The August break was introduced as a means of genuinely giving everyone a rest in the middle of tough seasons. Now we want to expand the number of races and not do that, so we end up having to look at reserve squads and back-up mechanics and groups of people who can take over, so the others guys can get a rest.

"To have a whole race team that can't take a holiday from what would effectively be February until November is not easy. We've been through this before: I had the same discussion, came to a conclusion and those conclusions seem to have been forgotten again. So I think it's a shame."

McLaren's Martin Whitmarsh agrees with his colleague: "I think the absence of the August break in the calendar next year is very tough. It really is tough on the mechanics.

"You look at the calendar and see how many fewer days the mechanics and the cars are in the UK."

The provisional 2009 calendar looks as follows:
29 March : Australia
5 April : Malaysia
19 April : Bahrain
10 May : Spain
24 May : Monaco
7 June : Canada
21 June : Great Britain
28 June : France
12 July : Germany
26 July : Hungary
9 August : Turkey
23 August : Europe (Valencia)
6 September : Italy
13 September : Belgium
27 September : Singapore
11 October : Japan
18 October : China
1 November : Brazil
15 November : Abu Dhabi