F1 teams will not police their rivals’ adherence to the August factory shutdown.
In the rare month-long gap between the Hungarian and Belgian grands prix, teams have agreed a mandatory two-week break period in which factories are strictly closed.

Staff are not even allowed to email one another, but Mercedes team boss Ross Brawn admitted that the shutdown is not really policed.

“We trust each other and are quite sure that everyone will abide by the agreements,” he is quoted by DPA news agency.

But Brazilian journalist Livio Oricchio said he doubts the agreement will be strictly adhered to, arguing that it would make “no sense” in the midst of a F1 season.

Red Bull designer Adrian Newey however said he intends to take a break.

“I think you have to be able to stop working and thinking, otherwise it would be completely all-consuming and probably not healthy,” he said.

Another journalist, Stefano Mancini, wrote in La Stampa newspaper that “nobody in his right mind” thinks the likes of Newey will really “turn off the light in his office and says to his staff ‘See you in fifteen days’.

“The factories will stop but the brains will not,” he added.

Brawn agreed: “We can’t escape from it completely because that’s our nature, but of course it’s better to be reflecting on the beach than in the office!”