Fernando Alonso says he “cannot understand” why Formula 1 allows just three days of pre-season testing before the start of the new season.
Teams and drivers will have just a single, three-day test in Bahrain starting tomorrow before the first race of the season. It is the third time in the last four years pre-season testing has been restricted so tightly.With each team allowed to run just a single car through the test, teams typically share driving duties between their two drivers, with both either having one full day of running each before splitting a third day, or splitting each day between both drivers.
Alonso, Formula 1’s most experienced driver ever, believe this is insufficient time for a world championship-level competition.
“We have very limited testing in Bahrain,” Alonso said. “I can say now, because I’ve been thinking all winter about this, how unfair it is that we only have a day-and-a-half to prepare for our championship.
“There is no other sport in the world – with all the money involved and with all the marketing and the good things that we say about Formula 1 and being closer to the fans – I cannot understand why we don’t go to Bahrain for four days, which could be two and two for the drivers. If you go to three, which is an odd number, you cannot divide between the drivers.”
Teams are also limited to running just one car during the pre-season test. “I don’t know why we don’t go with two cars, because we are already in Bahrain and we race the following week,” Alonso added.
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The 2024 F1 calendar is the longest in history. There are 24 grands prix from the start of March in Bahrain to the final round in Abu Dhabi in early December.
Red Bull driver Sergio Perez believes it is simply not possible to fit in any more tests.
“There’s no time,” Perez said. “We have 24 races. The calendar is already brutal, so there’s no time for more testing.
“It’s too many. We know that it’s too many races. It’s going to be a brutal calendar for all of us involved in the sport. That’s why it’s important that we are able to manage our energy levels as best as possible.”
Perez believes a lighter and more curated calendar of racing would be preferable to this year’s 24-round marathon.
“I think 20 races would be great, keeping up the quality instead of the quantity,” Perez said. “But that’s not for me to decide.”
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S
20th February 2024, 7:30
Alonso just needs to ask the team managers why they prefer digital/virtual testing over real-world testing, and he’ll then understand why F1 has these restrictions.
One of the justifications in the past was the financial limitations for most of the teams, but that’s no longer a major issue under these budget cap conditions.
The underlying issue is that the teams don’t make money from test sessions, and they get more useful information with less time and resources in the virtual world, so they have no need or desire to go back to increased real-world tests.
MichaelN
20th February 2024, 12:16
And yet F1 has just had the least competitive decade in its history.
Whatever it is the teams are getting, or think they are getting, it isn’t making them win races.
S
20th February 2024, 14:08
It is for one of them, and they are doing their design and development the same way as everyone else.
They are just doing it better.
In the past there were more ‘things’ for them to do better than each other, along with more ways to get it wrong.
The biggest difference being that they now rely more on data than drivers to steer their development direction.
Tristan (@skipgamer)
20th February 2024, 7:47
Alonso raises an excellent point, one car in testing really is silly. It’s not like the old days where testing was weeks across different circuits and there would be increased costs for having 2 cars ready by then.
If F1 is seriously only going to have just 3 days of testing moving forward, at least let the teams make the most of those 3 days.
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
20th February 2024, 8:54
@skipgamer
In a budget-capped formula, testing ban seem unnecessary. Teams have the freedom to develop their cars within the budgetary constraints using suitable resources. The argument regarding costs is somewhat flawed. Consider Ferrari, with access to Fiorano in their backyard and Mugello for free. Would it be more costly to test on the track or invest in advanced simulators, wind tunnels, computational power, and software ?
McLaren and RBR heavily invested in wind tunnels and simulators since the mid-noughties. Mercedes caught up during the hybrid era. None of them are eager to relinquish their advantage over the rest of the field. This situation puts Vasseur’s political skills to the test. While the testing ban was initially driven by cost concerns, the budget cap makes this rationale obsolete.
MichaelN
20th February 2024, 15:21
Do you think there’s a serious desire at Ferrari to get back to more real testing? They too have had 15+ years to adapt to the new situation.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
20th February 2024, 8:35
I think 1 car per team is fine if the test is in the middle of the season or something. But for pre-season testing, at the same track where the first race will take place a week later, makes no sense to do it. They are all there anyway, and it’s all prepared and ready, so why not use the opportunity?
S
20th February 2024, 10:13
Teams can use multiple cars – they just can’t use them at the same time. (They can use different ones on different days, for example).
One of the motivations behind restricting teams to one car is that pre-season testing is fundamentally about testing the car’s design and engineering aspects – it is not about the drivers.
Which should be rather satisfying to those who consider F1 to be primarily about building the best car…
Yellow Baron
20th February 2024, 11:07
Indeed, even if a car has a crash worthy of scrapping the tub they still have a third car for the GP no problem. I assume less testing is appealing to fom because they think it may make things unpredictable. But it what sense? How true is this in reality, perhaps it more likely means teams are less ready to get the most out of their car, in theory in help the dominant team more!
Jonathan Parkin
20th February 2024, 8:41
What was pre season testing like in 2000 for example. Does anybody know for historical comparison
SM
20th February 2024, 8:51
https://www.atlasf1.com/news/testing/index.html
Here’s a great link to a summary of f1 testing in the 2000s and late 90s
Yellow Baron
20th February 2024, 11:10
No wonder Ferrari did so well
Roger Ayles (@roger-ayles)
20th February 2024, 13:05
It was essentially unrestricted.
Teams could run as often as they were able to with as many cars as they could run at any circuit that had an F1 grade race or testing licence.
And it was great for fans as there was not only more opportunities to go and watch F1 track action but it was also super cheap and at times even free.
You didn’t get the organised group tests that every team would attend so we would often turn up to the 1st race of the year with no idea where anyone’s pace was and often the teams weren’t sure where there pace was in comparison to others either.
Red Andy (@red-andy)
20th February 2024, 12:26
With the budget cap there is a case for getting rid of some of the restrictions on testing, and letting teams test more as long as it’s within their spending limits.
In response to the scheduling point, I’ve long believed that the Friday of F1 weekends should be scheduled as a test day. Open the track for the whole day and let teams run as much as they want, with restrictions on parts etc only kicking in from the ‘official’ start of the weekend on Saturday.
Qualifying would then take place on Saturday afternoon with the race on Sunday afternoon, with the mornings given over to the support categories. There would be no need for a Saturday practice session given the amount of running possible on the Friday.
S
20th February 2024, 14:17
With the exception of sprint weekends – it is. Every team is given two 1 hour sessions to do whatever they want.
You clearly underestimate the value support categories offer to both the audience and the event promoter.
Friday is almost universally deemed boring enough as it is without taking away the variety and making the entire day non-competitive. Teams don’t even (need or want to) use all the track time available to them as it is – why would they want an additional 6 hours of it with only a fraction of the audience ogling their sponsors?
Leroy (@g-funk)
20th February 2024, 13:10
I would be for more testing if it took into account the championship standings. For example, If Red Bull were at the top of the standings, they would get no more testing sessions. If, for example, Williams was at the bottom of the championship, they would get the most testing. And all of it would have to fall under cost cap restrictions. But as it is now, more testing would just let the more advanced teams extend their advantages over the less advanced teams.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
20th February 2024, 13:49
I have often thought that such limited testing confirms to some extent the built in advantage that the best teams have. OK in theory, it is a level playing field but the best teams from the previous year nearly always start from a position of advantage.
I think more testing days might lead to more competitiveness. At least 4 days and maybe it should be organised as 4 days out of five possible days in one week to allow for adjustments to be made.
An Sionnach
20th February 2024, 14:07
It would be good to test a car at least once during the design process to make sure that the simulations aren’t just rubbish in, rubbish out. That what it largely seems to have been in this new ground effect era.
It will be interesting to see if Red Bull’s comment about the new design being faster in their simulations can also be said about the real car. The Mercedes design seemed good to them, too. At least Red Bull can always go back to last year’s car. Would make for a good season if Max was in a car slightly off the pace of the McLarens.
SteveR (@stever)
20th February 2024, 14:58
Yep.
An Sionnach
20th February 2024, 17:06
Might sound like a mad idea, but with fewer races you could kick off the season with a non-Championship race weekend. Full practice sessions, but null points. Not testing, but it’s essentially a glorified test session. Good venue and perhaps premium tickets. Perhaps showcase some feeder series, too. Might make it too much of a carnival, but perhaps you could allow the teams to run a third car with their test driver or a former driver with a super licence. Might be a disaster, but I wouldn’t mind seeing Prost, Piquet and Mansell in a car again. Something like that, but perhaps Button, Räikkönen and Vettel would make more sense.