Those involved in Formula One work their rearsides off forty-eight weeks of the year, and they rightly deserve a break in the midst of another gruelling season encompassing all corners of the globe. But four weeks?
Come on.
Anybody sitting in a trance, muttering “Hamilton, Ferrari, Belgium?”
Having a nightmare that you’re watching an F1 race, waking up in the nightmare and realising it’s a dream, then realising you’re in a dream and feeling relief sweep across, only to wake and realising there really is no F1?
Hello Inception! A dream within a dream. A nightmare within a nightmare!
Or feel like you’re becoming Homer Simpson in The Shining episode?
No F1 on TV make me something something!
Mr X, Mr Y, come on down!
Some radical notions do possess the mind when deprived of precious Formula One!
Personally, I would rather the sight of Sebastian Vettel raising that right index finger of his in victory over any of the alternatives, such as NASCAR (even if Marcos Ambrose is winning).
Without sounding too harsh, Mark Webber’s sentiments about Victoria being the “nanny state” are echoed in relation to Formula One.
In this, I’m not saying that the drivers, engineers, everybody concerned, are wusses, but in today’s society, four weeks?
That translates to roughly a century the way time seems to fly these days, and for the income they receive, an entire month (three consecutive weekends) free of action in the middle of the year, isn’t insignificant.
They talk about calendar congestion, with the threat of in excess of twenty races in the foreseeable future, meaning the season may not conclude until it’s the New Year (jokes, but close enough – the week before Christmas perhaps), having a four-week siesta isn’t exactly helping their cause, right?
A three-week break, at fixed intervals – maybe in blocks of five or six races, is the best way to maintain the composure of those involved over the duration of a season. It is only natural that after round fifteen of nineteen, especially if your team is out of the championship hunt, that your enthusiasm is going to be on the wane.
That, and scheduling races on each continent to be staged in a block, rather than two at the start of the season, and two or three at the conclusion of a season, is also essential.
This way, a twenty-plus race calendar will be as succinct as a twenty-plus race calendar can be.
On an entirely different matter, it is entirely fair that the Formula One community are afforded precious time with loved ones, and generally speaking, a reprieve from the sport’s rigours, but having snappier breaks, more regularly, is the best outcome for all involved.
Maybe in each three-week break, a week – notionally the middle week, where something similar to the current “gentleman’s agreement”, with factories being shut down, can be observed.
Instead of having a solitary family getaway in the middle of August, they can have mini-breaks in May, July and September, each reinvigorating personnel to get up and out of bed every morning until the season finishes, just maybe playing a pivotal role in achieving the ultimate success.
It is the only way that every individual from the bottom up can be assured of their longevity in the sport, in coping with the inevitable increase in races.
And to satisfy the fans, who are increasingly becoming the most important aspect of the sport, or any sport for that matter.
Consumer is king, and the best way to satisfy both the consumer and the entertainer… best of both worlds!
Getting Bernie to structure a calendar which focuses more on the needs of the consumer and those providing the entertainment is another subject.
Start the season on March 1, end the season on November 30, it is entirely feasible, so long as those in charge have the smarts to realise that it can be done, and without turning everybody into zombies in the process.
In the meantime, yes, this time next week Grand Prix action will be imminent, but it still somehow feels like that’s an eternity away.
For now, NASCAR anyone?
The one small mercy is that V8 Supercars finally return to the track this weekend, but don’t get me started on their own six-week winter siesta!
No F1 on TV make me something something…
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