(Motorsport) After just three races in the 2023 Formula 1 season, there is now a four week break due to the cancellation of the Chinese Grand Prix. The next race will take place in Azerbaijan on April 30th with Red Bull Racing looking very dominant while Ferrari, Mercedes and Aston Martin look to catch up to the reigning champions. The month-long break will give these three teams the time to improve their cards and catch up to the leaders who will feel that their momentum will be compromised after this absence. 

Speaking about the break, reigning World Champion Max Verstappen said “It’s a bit weird to have three weeks off, especially that early in the season. A couple of weeks ago I would say that I was not looking forward to it but then I got really ill, and I’ve been struggling a bit since that time. So, for me now, these three weeks are just getting back to full fitness, getting a full programme in. In a way, it’s probably nice now. Normally, if you just feel well, I think I would also prefer to keep racing.”

Surprisingly, after a disastrous 2022 season, Mercedes have outperformed Scuderia Ferrari so far and will be hoping to utilise the extra wind-tunnel time over Red Bull to move closer towards the leaders. Despite the break giving the Silver Arrows an opportunity to catch up, Hamilton said “Honestly, I don’t think I need a mental break at the moment – I feel pretty good. 

“Particularly around August is that time where you can have downtime. I think it’s good for the team to really sit down and focus on bringing upgrades to the car. I wish we were racing personally but I’ll try and make the best use of it – I haven’t figured out what I’m going to do throughout the whole time. But, it’ll mostly be training and keeping busy.”

Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso said “I prefer to keep racing. I guess [I will be at the factory a lot]. You will use [the break] to prepare for the next race in a better way and review the first three races. In my case, it’s a new team so there are a couple of things we want to revisit – it’s okay but it’s better to do it on a racetrack.”

As for Scuderia Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, the Monegasque driver has described the first three races of his 2023 campaign as the “worst start to a season ever”, being forced into his second retirement in just three races following a first lap collision in Melbourne. The Italian manufacturer has fallen fourth in the Championship so far, a big decline from their second place last year and Leclerc has asked his team to use the break to progress “as quickly as possible”.

“In the situation we are in as a team, we take this as an opportunity to work as much as possible during this break in order to get upgrades as quickly as possible and be as competitive as we want the sooner in this season,” Leclerc said. “It’s still a very, very long season. We are fully motivated to get back on track, and we’ll try to use these weeks in the best way possible.”

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