Why F1’s one-off autumn break should become a permanent fixture

The unexpected introduction of a four-week ‘autumn break’ this season comes just a few weeks after the mandatory summer shutdown.

This season, Formula 1 has two, seemingly interminable, four-week breaks and, oddly, they’ve been very close together – just a month has separated these breaks, in what has been a rather unusual scheduling foible.

Why are there two long breaks in F1 2024?

Given that there are 24 races, the scheduling is a little strange – the first half of the season saw the action come thick and fast, with no gaps of over two weeks to separate any Grand Prix.

Then the month-long summer shutdown after Belgium before action resumed with four races in five weekends, before this current four-week gap. Once this break ends, it’s flat-out to the finish of the championship – six races over seven weeks, with two triple-headers.

On the face of it, the scheduling seems strange. Why have such long gaps in close succession, and then cram two back-to-back triple-headers to finish the season – particularly ones that involve flying all over the world – when there clearly were spare weekends going which would have allowed for a little more spacing?

There’s a fundamental difference between the two four-week breaks though. The first, the ‘summer break’ is a mandatory shutdown enforced by the regulations, with the factories forced to close up and performance/car-related personnel not permitted to work.

But, this ‘autumn break’ is different – it’s merely a scheduling foible and, as a result, everyone can work as much as they want – the factories are in full flow, the engineers are developing tech neck at their computers, and the drivers are cavorting on beaches (in between all the simulator work, physical training, and sponsor events). In other words, it’s not a shutdown at all, but just a break from the travelling – and a welcome one.

The scheduling foible has come about as part of F1’s push to try grouping races together – this reduces carbon emissions and logistical headaches (which is critical to the F1 2030 carbon net zero push of the sport) and doesn’t force F1 personnel to fly halfway around the globe between consecutive race weekends.

As a result, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was moved from its April 2023 slot to September, bridging the gap between Monza and Singapore – meaning the teams just kept heading east until the break.

Qatar was done and dusted this time last year, but is now the penultimate race of a back-to-back with Abi Dhabi, while the Japanese GP was moved to create an Asia pairing with the Chinese Grand Prix. The timing of this move came too late for attempts to be made to try moving a Grand Prix to fill the gap created – contract considerations and, in particular, weather conditions, all play a key role in this scheduling.

There’s also the factor of street circuits needing oodles of time to prepare and plan, meaning their dates can’t be moved around willy-nilly.

Having learned the lesson of not holding Qatar too early in the season, due to the excessively hot temperatures which resulted in dangerous conditions for the exhausted drivers, an option may have been to move the United States GP into the four-week gap but, given the Mexico City Grand Prix is straight after, it made more sense to leave the gap and stay out in the Americas for COTA/Mexico/Sao Paulo.

More on F1’s governance and F1 2025

👉 Official: F1 2025 calendar announced with major change to start Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari era

👉 Explained: How the FIA develops potential new F1 rules and regulations

Would a recurring autumn break be such a bad thing?

While the F1 2024 championship is very much heating up as the battle between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris in the Drivers’ Championship closes up, and the fight between Red Bull and McLaren in the Constructors’ hasn’t yet been decided, such long gaps do take some of the momentum out of the fight.

But this is only a modern issue – until the last decade or so, such gaps weren’t unusual. Looking at the last time McLaren won the Constructors’ Championship, in 1998, there was a mammoth five-week gap between the penultimate race at the Nurburgring and the season finale in Japan. Think of the discontent of the fans if that was the case today…

Last year, with no such autumn break, there were plenty of illnesses and exhaustion had set in across the paddock in the closing stages of the championship – and that was in a season where the fight ended early.

Travel, by its very nature, is exhausting and hard on the body – and this was evident as tiredness almost turned to apathy by season end. This was particularly evident after Las Vegas, with its middle-of-the-night scheduling coming just before everyone had to fly straight to the Middle East for Abu Dhabi – a particularly crushing two weeks of work.

Addressing this topic in Singapore was Alpine ‘s Esteban Ocon, who had been one of those to fall ill, who said the four-week break in preparation for the final push has come as most welcome.

“It’s good that the organisation realised that Las Vegas and Qatar – these kind of places were super hard on, not only us, but also the team members,” he said.

“I think after Vegas, everyone was destroyed, basically.

“A lot of people got sick because of no light during the day. It’s been super tough, so we are trying something which is good to see.

“We have a long break before we start having these tough races and these triple-headers towards the end of the year.

“There are always going to be different opinions – some people would have liked to carry on and probably finish the year earlier, but at least we can have these races well-rested for everyone, and you are better on the focus when you come back.”

In a sport where the number of races has increased so dramatically, 30 races across 24 Grand Prix weekends, would a second soft break like the current one make more sense in the longer term?

After all, it’s worth remembering that F1 is primarily a job for most of the personnel working in it – and getting the chance to work at a slower pace, or at least at home without seeing airports for a little while, can be all the difference between being absolutely drained flat or being fit and ready to tackle everything thrown at you. Especially when you’re already exhausted from the 18 races that have already happened (which was a full season until not very long ago…)

Certainly, this four-week break is coming as a welcome respite. It’s been a long season already and, while two long breaks close together might appear to have been a quirk this year, it’s meant that everyone (including yours truly and all your favourite PlanetF1.com writers!) has had the chance to switch off just a little and take on six races in seven weeks.

While the summer break is a mandatory shutdown designed to give everyone a chance to take a holiday and forces the teams to give their employees some time off at home, a second break could be introduced without the shutdown aspect – simply let everyone stay at home, and enjoy some normalcy and routine late in the season before the final push.

Unfortunately, the F1 2025 calendar is already decided without such a break but this gives the sport a chance to compare and contrast. If, next season, the relentless calendar results in sickness and exhaustion once again, then there is a direct comparison to be had.

In a sport that rewards excellence, surely having everyone firing on all cylinders and enthusiastic is the preferred option to the zombie-like indifference of a paddock eager to simply get the work done and get home after so long on the road?

Read Next: Exclusive: How David Coulthard helped shape the early days of Red Bull