The good points and bad points of no Summer Testing

[FIA]

What are the good points and bad points of no Summer Testing.

Once upon a time there was plenty of Official Test Sessions during all months of the year, now there only seems to be Test Sessions in the Winter.

[wedge]

They should cut out testing altogether, IMO, and make Friday a test session where possible.

Apart from Monza, they shouldn't be allowed to test on circuits on the calander.

I don't think there is bad point of no summer testing. F1 deservedly needs a summer break.

[Hawkmoon]

They should cut out testing altogether, IMO, and make Friday a test session where possible.

Apart from Monza, they shouldn't be allowed to test on circuits on the calander.

I don't think there is bad point of no summer testing. F1 deservedly needs a summer break.

I agree. Ban in-season testing alltogether and let them do their testing on Grand Prix Fridays. This creates a level playing field as all the teams get the same amount of testing time.

[Tazio]

They should cut out testing altogether, IMO, and make Friday a test session where possible.

Apart from Monza, they shouldn't be allowed to test on circuits on the calander.

I don't think there is bad point of no summer testing. F1 deservedly needs a summer break.I agree. But it's a crazy game. If your going to cut out summer testing then you can't let teams know the technical changes necessary for the next seasons contender untill everyone is ready to start developement. And then the changes instituted by the FIA are subject to change by the FIA. It's a strange situation!

[V12]

I kind-of agree. As a self-confessed purist something still rankles about the idea of restricting what teams can do in their private time, but if they are going to restrict testing at all, which they have, they might as well go whole hog and restrict all in-season running to race weekends, would be better for the paying public methinks :up:

[wmcot]

I agree. Ban in-season testing alltogether and let them do their testing on Grand Prix Fridays. This creates a level playing field as all the teams get the same amount of testing time.

It would be impossible and maybe unsafe to ban all off-season testing. You would either show up at the first race with an untested design or be forced to run the first few races with last year's car while testing the new design on Fridays.

[Hawkmoon]

It would be impossible and maybe unsafe to ban all off-season testing. You would either show up at the first race with an untested design or be forced to run the first few races with last year's car while testing the new design on Fridays.

I was only talking about in-season testing. Let them do what they want in the off-season. F1 is a meritocracy for the most part and I don't think too many restrictions is a good idea.

However the amount of testing a team can do during the season has a great effect of how the season plays out. Take the old Sauber team. They would often start the season very stongly then fade becuase they simply couldn't keep up with the development pace of the big teams.

If you restrict in-season testing to GP Firdays then even though teams will start the season with differing levels of performance they will all have the same opportunity to develop their cars throughout the season. There won't be a need to run wind tunnels endlessly as there will onlt be so much that can be track tested on the Fridays.

Surely restricting in-season testing to GP Fridays will help with this Holy Grail of Cost Cutting that the FIA is pursuing?

[GP-M3]

I think they should test as much as they want.

[Tazio]

I was only talking about in-season testing. Let them do what they want in the off-season. F1 is a meritocracy for the most part and I don't think too many restrictions is a good idea.

However the amount of testing a team can do during the season has a great effect of how the season plays out. Take the old Sauber team. They would often start the season very stongly then fade becuase they simply couldn't keep up with the development pace of the big teams.

If you restrict in-season testing to GP Firdays then even though teams will start the season with differing levels of performance they will all have the same opportunity to develop their cars throughout the season. There won't be a need to run wind tunnels endlessly as there will onlt be so much that can be track tested on the Fridays.

Surely restricting in-season testing to GP Fridays will help with this Holy Grail of Cost Cutting that the FIA is pursuing?Hawk your last phrase is the key. Cost cutting is a completely unrealistic concept in f1.
Cost management is far fetched. In reality F1 is, and always will be an absurdly expensive endeavor.
I'm OK with it as long as Ferrari is Kicking http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/16/16_3_166.gif

[FIA]

I think they should test as much as they want.

I agree with that. But they should take out tests on Calendar Circuits (other than Catalunya). They should go back to circuits like Estoril, Brands Hatch, Donington park, Nogaro, Paul Ricard and Brno. And maybe ban Ferrari from having so many private tests, I think private tests aren't that good for the sport, have official test sessions. eg. don't come if you want, but it's your only chance, (and bring Test Drivers if the Main Drivers need a break).

[wedge]

I agree with that. But they should take out tests on Calendar Circuits (other than Catalunya). They should go back to circuits like Estoril, Brands Hatch, Donington park, Nogaro, Paul Ricard and Brno. And maybe ban Ferrari from having so many private tests, I think private tests aren't that good for the sport, have official test sessions. eg. don't come if you want, but it's your only chance, (and bring Test Drivers if the Main Drivers need a break).

Catalunya is evil, they test there too much and contributes to the dull races there because they've already optimised their cars.

In the interest of safety the test tracks have to be FIA approved, top graded tracks.

The general consensus is that we should cut testing. It's not just cost-cutting, the teams already have simulation rigs and wind tunnels - though simulations and wind tunnels are one thing, the real world is another.

Some would percieve the problem with F1 is the cars and teams are unique so the more you optimise the cars the more likely they'll spread out during the race eg. the first few races can be unpredictable because its hard to tell the true pace of the cars.

If you give cars less track time there are more unknowns therefore unpredictability and better races - in theory. In NASCAR - practice gets rained out and they race with unknown setups and you end up with far more interesting races.

[jso1985]

I think banning on-season tetsing would be a really effective way of cutting costs and at the same time improving the show as Fridays on GP weekends would be better

[Stuartf12007]

in season track testing is good, Its gives us a chance to see the cars without paying the massive tickets prices and having to be deafend by air horns

Ill be at silverstone june test, which cost £12.50

[wmcot]

Hawk your last phrase is the key. Cost cutting is a completely unrealistic concept in f1.
Cost management is far fetched. In reality F1 is, and always will be an absurdly expensive endeavor.


The only way to limit costs is to have Bernie pass out a weekly allowance to each team...scary thought!!!

[cosmicpanda]

I think that teams should be able to test away from Grand Prix weekends in order to develop their cars (eg. test new suspension design, do practice starts, all the rest). As has been said, it would be stupid if they all turned up with untried components on their cars at a Grand Prix weekend.

[Ranger]

I agree with that. But they should take out tests on Calendar Circuits (other than Catalunya). They should go back to circuits like Estoril, Brands Hatch, Donington park, Nogaro, Paul Ricard and Brno. And maybe ban Ferrari from having so many private tests, I think private tests aren't that good for the sport, have official test sessions. eg. don't come if you want, but it's your only chance, (and bring Test Drivers if the Main Drivers need a break).

That's a damn good idea that seems enforcable.

The only problem would be Monza testing... as there is no F1-grade circuit that would be suitable enough to test low-downforce configurations.

[cosmicpanda]

Why do they need to test at Monza so much, though? Can they not just test on the Friday?

[wedge]

Monza would be a track that definitely needs test sessions because its the only track on the calender that requires a unique low-downforce aero package, huge braking zones and 'limited' run off.

Though I'm not sure whether Paul Ricard has a relevant configuration other than straight-line testing on the Mistral Straight.