ESPImperium wrote:
However, i do think testing needs a review, there may be opportunities to be had during a GP weekend, making FP1 a 2 hour session where a test/reserve/development driver can take to the track for the whole session, or the first hour.
That will not work unless you cut the time back on an other sessions, simply due PU useage. Teams will not risk running the car half a hour longer per weekend which might stretch the life of the PU too much towards the end of its cycle of 5 races.
Neither would allowing an extra PU allocation, to circumvent the issue, solely for half that hour be viable, since it inmediately follows up on a session in which the normal allocation has to be used. Teams also aren't allowed to built it into the spare chassis they bring along. That chassis has to remain strictly stripped down unless a different car/chassis is taken out of competition for the remainder of the weekend.
However, that rule can be changed. I've always found it a waste to just have that spare chassis just lying around. The irony that makes this particurarily ruling a complete failure is that it was introduced to save costs. Having to completely built up the car from the bare chassis outside the factory is a huge effort which requires running overtime. If we reverse this and allow teams to use a seperate, out of competition PU allocation, you can have a very viable means to make teams actually use that half a hour.
Still, what I think that could be better, is a seperate session altogether. Somewhere along you then need to plan in a fourth session. A viable moment would be sunday morning, although that might overlap with a race of different series. Careful planning needs to be done. I would even go as far as suggest you could use this session to have the youngsters race against eachother.
However, this still would not do anything about your worries about a new competitor like Haas. It's infact very vital for them to collect as much on-track data as possible before the season starts, since they have to built up the know-how about cfd/windtunnel to track correlation, how vibrations affect the supports and mountings, etc.
The answer is not as simple as allowing them exclusively a few more testing days. Costs of a test per team can be diminished by having all teams participate, saving on rent, utility, transport, etc. However, we are talking about a period when you don't have any sanctioned competition event of F1, meaning the costs you make are for the test and can not be divided by having a race before or after. Unless of course you have a winter competition with last years cars which could earn money for those teams.
