Teams trying to save summer break

Next year's schedule runs from the end of March until mid-November, but does not include a three-week gap in the summer that has been a feature of recent calendars.

That move has led to concern from some teams, who fear that they may have to start paying out to rotate team members in a bid not to cause burn-out among their staff.

McLaren boss Ron Dennis said recently: "This break is absolutely essential for all the people who travel. They don't get the right amount of time with their families and this gives them an opportunity to have at least one week where they are not at the office or workshop.

"It's a key ingredient of keeping people motivated and happy when you are addressing the calendar, which makes next year's difficult for them. We will have to accommodate that by rotating people. They will not be expected to go right through the season."

Concerns about the cost implications of such a move were discussed in Valencia by team principals, who have agreed to try and come up with some way of reshuffling dates to create a bigger gap in the calendar.

It was agreed that team managers should be given the task of trying to work out how best to come up with a solution, as they were more aware of the logistical requirements of ferrying men and equipment to races than team principals.

An initial idea of stretching the calendar out by moving the Australian Grand Prix forward has been ruled out by Bernie Ecclestone, however, because the March 29 date will ensure a better television audience for the race in Europe as it coincides with the hour change switch to British Summer Time.

It is understood that the focus is now on trying to achieve a gap by revising the dates of either the 2009 German, Hungarian or Turkish Grands Prix.

One possibility is to make Germany and Hungary back-to-back on July 12th and 19th, with Turkey then moving forward to August 2nd. This would then provide a gap before the Valencia race on August 23.

Toyota team president John Howett told autosport.com: "We seem to have a long break at the beginning of the season and no summer break. There should be more discussion to optimise the race schedule in terms of the burden to the teams."