Image by Zak Mauger/LAT
Reduction in pre-season testing would benefit F1, says Racing Point’s Green
Racing Point technical director Andrew Green believes Formula 1 could benefit from a reduction in pre-season testing as next season’s calendar is discussed.
The 2020 calendar is likely to feature 22 races with one of either Spain or Germany -- currently without a deal -- remaining on the schedule. In order to facilitate the extra race, F1 and the teams have been discussing cutting back the number of pre-season test days, and Green says the current eight days is an excessive amount of running.
“I’m of the opinion that we probably do too much pre-season testing anyway,” Green said. “With all the dyno and simulators we have, the cars are pretty reliable, and the places where we can go to test pre-season don’t really represent the majority of tracks that we go to. And if you really wanted to mix things up a bit, then I think reducing the amount of testing pre-season would help that. So I think that’s a good idea.”
Green doesn’t believe more of a reliance on simulation would necessarily benefit the bigger teams even if they are able to spend more money on such departments.
“You’ve always got the unknown. It’s very difficult to simulate everything. I think a lot of the time, if you’re not really on top of it, testing can confuse you more than you learn. And that’s the danger of doing too much testing.
“I think we can do a bit less. It’s a tough test anyway, pre-season. It’s not a great way to start a season -- especially with 22 races -- to do two weeks pre-season, so if that was reduced slightly, it’ll reduce the burden on the people who have got to do it.”
While one of the options on the table is to reduce testing to two three-day tests, Green believes there should just be one standalone event.
“There’s talk … but they still want to split it over two weeks, rather than just having one week of pre-season testing, which is the right thing to do. You gain a week.”
Chris Medland
While studying Sports Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire, Chris managed to talk his way into working at the British Grand Prix in 2008 and was retained for three years before joining ESPN F1 as Assistant Editor. After three further years at ESPN, a spell as F1 Editor at Crash Media Group was followed by the major task of launching F1i.com’s English-language website and running it as Editor. Present at every race since the start of 2014, he has continued building his freelance portfolio, working with international titles. As well as writing for RACER, his broadcast work includes television appearances on F1 TV and as a presenter and reporter on North America's live radio coverage on SiriusXM.
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