Force India picked the two weeks immediately following the Hungarian Grand Prix to take a break, go on holiday and, supposedly, save money on heating, lighting and other costs associated with running a factory. Staff were not even allowed to respond to work e-mails, due to an agreement between the teams aimed at saving money.

However, doubt has been raised by Andy Stevenson, Force India's team manager, as to how much money the scheme does save. He claims that the expenditure almost balances the savings, which would defeat the point of the measure. Williams agree with Force India, while the FOTA teams haven't said anything about the idea since the start of the break. The benefit to staff, however, is that they get to spend more time with their families without worrying about the difficulties that typically permeate a Formula One campaign.

Force India has plainly had difficulties in extracting its potential in races and James Key recently talked about them in an interview. While he emphasises the good performances Force India have had in recent races, he is also looking forward to upgrades appearing at Valencia. One imagines that the fortnight which the factory staff haven't spent on holiday will be incredibly busy as they labour to produce components which will hopefully make the difference between Q1 and Q2 or even Q3.

The upgrades in question are currently unknown in nature, though orpheus9's idea for an improvement is as good as any - a bigger rear view mirror in case a certain Ferrari driver needs to be dodged (again)...

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