Comments on: Is Rotating Staff Going To Disadvantage McLaren?

By: 2009 French Grand Prix Cancelled » BlogF1

2009 French Grand Prix Cancelled » BlogF1 — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 18:21:42 +0000

[...] their employees would burn-out very quickly. Ron Dennis stated that should the break get cancelled, he would have to rotate his race-team staff to allow them a chance to recuperate away from the races. A suggestion that of course, flies in the [...]

By: Teams Look Into Ways Of Retaining Summer Break » BlogF1

Teams Look Into Ways Of Retaining Summer Break » BlogF1 — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:24:19 +0000

[...] was recently announced that Ron Dennis of McLaren will be rotating his grand prix staff as of next year due to the lack of a three week summer break. In previous seasons, 2008 inclusive, Formula One had [...]

By: Paww

Paww — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 23:48:07 +0000

I’d argue its a good thing, even though the sorts of people in this line of work will probably live and breathe F1 even they will benefit from a break. (Probably boost their enthusiasm even more!).

Defintatly a good thing, even if its Ron also moaning about any additions to the calender.

By: Introducing BlogF1 (At The Wrong Time) » Prodrivel

Introducing BlogF1 (At The Wrong Time) » Prodrivel — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 23:39:39 +0000

[...] they go through each Sunday. As I arrived, Sidepodcast-anchor Christine was just about to record a quote from BlogF1 as part of the show; my timing once again proving [...]

By: Episode 73 - He Only Knew What it Was Like with a Lawnmower | Sidepodcast : Your Weekly F1 Podcast

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 23:06:09 +0000

[...] Blog F1 – Is Rotating Staff Going to Disadvantage McLaren? [...]

By: Ago

Ago — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 00:52:14 +0000

Hi just a bit of common sense here :

If there are more races then there is more work. If there is more work there must be more people. the cost is not necessarily affected because the cost should be compared to the profit and if there are more races there will be more profit.

When a company produces more goods the cost is higher but the sales are higher too (else why would you produce more in the first place Hiring more people is not ONLY an increase in cost it’s also an increase in production and F1 is a business…

Apart from that rotating people doesn’t need necessarily more people it’s only that you do not send always the same persons, I understand that McLaren employs already 1,000 people….

As a paradox rotating people might reduce the cost because some people might be paid on overtime, and overtime is always more expensive…

Last but not least if you want to keep your people you better give them a nice life with holidays and time to spend with their families…

Could be a very wise move all considered.

By: casa de lana

casa de lana — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:21:10 +0000

The three week gap is the time between the race days. In actual terms this translates to about 10 days or less at home (given you fly back from a race on a Monday, probably spend at least 1 day back at the race factory before vacation and then have to fly out to the next race 6 days ahead of the race).

Even with the current calendar of 18 races many people connected with F1 suffer ‘burn-out’ during the latter part of the season. Family life is severely disrupted (remember that F1 consumes weekends, normally a time to be with family).

What Ron is proposing is a bold step forward to better prepare his team for the 20 race calendar. It’s true that certain ‘critical’ team members would still attend all races but race rotation would allow a refreshed team to tackle the race weekend with obvious advantages.

By: Steven Roy

Steven Roy — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 12:07:30 +0000

I doubt if key staff will get rotated. Race engineers and the guys on the pit wall will be at every race but mechanics and all the behind the scenes people including catering etc will get the occasional race off.

It seems a sensible idea in principle but I guess we will find out at the end of next season whether McLaren gain from the freshness of their people or Ferrari gain from consistency. I guess whatever the real answer if one of them botches a stop in the last couple of race that other system will be hailed as a fabulous decision.

By: Keith Collantine

Keith Collantine — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 08:47:18 +0000

Although Dennis doesn’t want the calendar to expand – he’d rather keep it at 18 races – I think he’s smart enough to realise it’s not an argument he’s going to win. F1 will probably hit 20 races the year after next and I think we’ll see a slow increase towards around 25 over the following decade – assuming more races continues to equal more money for CVC. Therefore, rotating staff may prove to be a little short-term pain for a long-term gain.

By: Gman

Gman — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 05:49:39 +0000

It seems like a good idea given the siutation, but McLaren’s public statements about this rotation policy are just an extended form of Ron crying like a little child about a car ride that’s too long. He made that big-time statement about 18 races a year back at the motorsports forum in Bahrain earlier this season, and this just seems to be an extension of that rhetoric.

I never really thought the teams cherished the 3-week break so much until this whining started, but if they want it so bad, it could be worked out if Bernie would be more sensable with a few things. There is still room for 21-22 GPs a season- including, yes, the USGP- and a break if they need it. Start the whole show several weeks earlier and make a few better scheduling moves- pair up Bahrain and Abu Dhabi on a flyaway instead of seperating them as they will be in 2009. Then evenryone gose home happy and the sport is all the better off at the end of the day.