Can someone explain why free testing was banned? It seems to be if we want to avoid a '23 1 car championship the best way would be to allow teams more testing to correct issues and field better cars? Someone mentioned on another thread that Liberty can't sell free testing...but surely a more competitive season would be better for their viewing figures...?
Cost to small teams who had a lack of resources. That would be the general version of this item's story. Testing of some kind should be allowed and paid for by Liberty - THE SHOW MASTER The newest issue affecting this is the calendar that is too busy to allow it. Dont forget we 'need' F1 in China among other useless races.
All true. And F1 says they can't monetize testing so there's that (they're really hurting you know). Funny thing is, the dummies that run the sport are always hammering on ''about the show'' but fail to actually provide a show with their own technical regulations (yes I'm on about noise and car size...)
+1 There are good venue's for tests. Entertainment and paddock access can be provided for a price and allow those going to testing an opportunity to BE IN THE PADDOCK even if briefly. I know, I know...........makes too much sense. I shut up a watch the snow melt now lol
Initially it was Bernie's idea, which was accepted by the teams. He wanted more races on the calendar to boost revenue, and as a trade off he proposed a limitation in testing .
This is a really good point to be fair, perhaps free testing could be allowed over the winter break? Watching the Brawn GP got me thinking about it - those guys were on their ass and they still got the car out on track before the official pre-season test, so sure - Ferrari will basically have uncapped testing at Fiorano but there would surely be some benefit to the smaller teams. I don't think the gulf between Haas and Red Bull could be much bigger than it already is so any complaints of widening the gap can be cut short at the start haha
Teams that finish 1-4 should pay for their own. Those 5 below should have 50% of cost covered by LIberty. Two 3 days tests. Both before the summer break. By then its already over mostly. The real upgrades are now before summer or just after the re-start. In 25 it wont matter, that season is almost meaningless in the strategic spending scheme as the new regs will need the resources.
I think the teams should be allowed to test individually, at locations of their choice, without time limit. Being dictated location, and time limit is not going back to what they enjoyed before.
I agree - instead of more rules put an overall spend cap on testing or a time limit. Keep the standard pre-season tests and then let teams add days as they see fit. One idea often floated is forcing the teams to use the back up drivers to help get more seat time for those looking to break into F1, I'd be ok with that, maybe 50/50 shared time with the racing drivers.
Motor racing doesn't need time or spending limits; let's the teams test and practice as much as they need. The FIA is trying to turn F1 into a socialist republic where everybody has to be equal. Motor racing has always needed plenty of money; those who cannot afford it shouldn't be in F1.
Oh but 'team value' is now the driver. Not racing. Its the 'franchise' idea like so many other professional sports league's. What fans want is only balanced by what the teams end value will be and that needs to be on the up. Every decision now is value based.
Teams in position 10-to-6 should be allowed to test 300 days per year Teams in position 5-to-4 should be allowed to test 50 days per year Team in position 3 should be allowed to test 20 days per year Team in position 2 should be allowed to test 10 days per year Team in position 1 should be allowed to test 0 days per year.
I hope you have realised that with 24 GPs on the calendar, the teams are away for almost half the year, busy travelling to and from different locations, and occupied at track operations for 168 days of the year. A team would need a dedicated development group with its own staff to pursue testing. With so many races, there is hardly any time left for testing with the present schedule.
Let's not forget about F1's fallacy about being green. The extra tires, the fuel to test, the man power, and the logistics. Okay sure, a bit of an argument there. However when F1 simply adds more grand prix weekends that uses those same resources and more, I guess that environmental impact doesn't matter when they are making money.
Ferrari faced the same delimma in the Schumacher era. They used a test car for testing and race cars for racing. Ferrari consumed about 300 engines and 300 transmissions per year testing. Exactly why did Ferrari build Fiorano and why did they staff it so generously ??
I remember when F1 brought in limited testing, I believe it was Ross Brawn that said they were unhappy because teams had a choice in how to invest their resources. Ferrari invested in Fiorano to do testing and now that resource was going to be limited or eliminated. Quite frankly, Ferrari should have been more proactive with the computer simulations as clearly those tools have proved to progress technology and performance at an incredible rate. Personally, I don't think a few days worth of testing (particularly pre season) testing is enough, but I don't think unlimited testing is required anymore.
One week of testing before the first race guarantees that the paying fans will see crap. FIA and Liberty are rapidly destroying the sport. The teams should break away and start their own series. I know they won't because of the money they get paid to "shut up and show up." But I remember when we all looked forward to spy photos of the testing, and rumor reports on whether this or that car looked fast or slow. The poety of the sport has been crushed out of it. Leclerc should gift back to the team half of his bloated salary...he should buy them some up grades during the season so that they don't go over their budget cap.
I have nothing against the Ferrari "method", but it's completely incompatible with the budget cap. The budget cap would have to go first, and as a result teams will be able to catch up. The gap with the minnows will grow though ...
The credit crunch crisis in 2008 basically had a knee jerk reaction after BMW and Toyota chickened out. Testing was banned immediately after that by dumb max mosley. Easily one of the worst decisions ever. Today, i still feel there's place for testing. It's just computers and all these simulator things took over and F1 never really recovered from it.
And precious team values could be impacted lol. It’s racing now only, its enhancing total team value since being a rolling advert is more precious!
with the current mess and sprint nonsense, reverse grid should be much better idea. Thursday - Meet the fans session Friday - Setup (prac 1 and 2) Saturday - Warm up Saturday - Race 1 Sunday - Warm Up Sunday - Race 2 (reverse grid race) Monday - Testing You don't need 24 races in this format. 15 will do.
F1 is a meritocracy, and reverse grid is haphazard; it doen't reward the fasters cars/drivers. If we go down that road, we may as well go the whole hog, and make it a lottery.
