F1 break – enjoy it while you can

Next year's championship is scheduled to begin in Australia a week later, on March 9, and conclude in Japan on October 12. In between, an unchanged calendar sees races every two weeks, except for just a week's interval between Nurburgring and Magny-Cours in early July.

McLaren boss Ron Dennis said: "It's provisional at the moment but I don't hold out much hope of it changing. The people choosing the dates are not coming to every race or working on the cars.

"The management can cope, putting aside any family aspirations, but it's exceedingly tough for the mechanics. No Grand Prix team was consulted and I don't think that's particularly fair.

"We do get people at the end of a season saying that the strain on their personal life is too much. Team people are working very hard when they are at home as well, and when you go to America and Japan at the end of the year, you are away a month."