(The underlining is mine.)tuj wrote:make the sport more competitive. the more drivers on the grid who can win, the better the viewership and interest in sponsorship. To do this, they need to let the back-marker teams test more.
I think we should concentrate in the midfiled and backmarker teams. If corporations or manufacturers want to come in, spend 400M a year and then leave for political reasons, that has nothing to do with sustainability. That Sauber has the problems it has and HRT dissapears, that is the real problem to be addressed.
And there, giving Sauber a better chance of reaching podiums or Marissua a realistic one of scratching a point on merit here or there would help massively. And that can be achieved through said testing.
Consider how expensive it is for them to go testing to a circuit, they pay for the flights and transport, they pay for the extra engines and, indirectly, they pay for the tires as well.
A solution to both things, one that has been considered before: testing on race weekends, in particular on monday so as not to interfere with the weekend's action.
If they were to implement a testing session on monday after each race (permanent circuits only, obviously), the cars are already there, the engineers and mechanics are already there, they only need an extra hotel night for half of the personnel, spares are already there, telemetry is already there and set up. Engines are already there, often including new ones as spare for the raceable ones. Some unsused tires are already there, as are many half-used ones. Fuel rigs, there, security and medical resources, there, etc, etc. This testing would be much cheaper than off weekend testing, which couldbe eliminated, and I presume relatively cheaper than some wind tunnel hours for the very smallest teams.
Now the twist: Allocate those monday testing laps based on finishing positions or, to avoid extreme drop-out tactics, say the average pasition over the race, or the positions 10 laps from the end. One car per team to minimize personnel needed. If you are marussia and you average position was 20, for two cars, that's 40 testing laps. You are Sauber, average position 12, 24 testing laps. You made a 1-2? 3 laps.
It is similar to a weight handicap formula, only that next weekends all cars are the same, only the gained experience differs. Ths way, teams in the back would get more experience for their drivers, and get to test new pieces in real size. They might even get to try wet tires after a dry race, and if then in the next weekend it rains only on sunday... Medium teams, even the ones almost at the podium, can sort aero maps in constant speed runs, etc.
In the back, most testing for the year could be achieved this way. In the middle of the pack, the very significant number of laps could allow real size aero testing allowing for the occasional surprise, and at the very front, you achieve a small winning penalty.
Caveat: with the current rules, engine and transmission have to last many races and can't take extra laps, but in most (not all) races, there is a spare set available that only comes in if the ones for the race break down, often brand new ones. So when that doesn't happen, those can be used. Or otherwise those can be flown for this purpose and simply by allocating an extra engine and gearbox for all testing needed in teh whole year, teams get to test at most races.
Win-win-win situation, IMHO.
