The drastic reduction in tests (each driver should only reach the start of the season with a day and a half of testing!) has led the teams to use the “previous cars” to give drivers the possibility of testing with cars from two years ago, because the work on the simulator is not enough. We discover the contradictions of a system that puts drastic limits on itself and then seeks a way around them. So much so that these tests become marketing activities and are not part of the budget cap.
The forced atypicality of the last Formula 1 season, which lasted until mid-December, also had effects on the start of the 2021 championship. One of these is the pre-season test program reduced yet again: only three days of testing at the Sakhir circuit, which will then host the first round of the new season. There is no doubt that the circumstances are exceptional, but it is equally undeniable that the progressive reduction of tests is a process that started well before the arrival of the pandemic, and that the record mileage (downhill) with which teams and drivers will arrive at the start of the 2021 season it’s not just due to Covid.
Having only one and a half days of testing (per driver) available to prepare for a racing season is an alarming fact, and is not confirmed in any other sport, given that training is a crucial step in view of official events.
Reduced tests, indeed … no
The confirmation that more kilometers are needed comes from those who contributed to this state of affairs, namely the teams.
For several weeks, many teams (Red Bull, Ferrari, AlphaTauri and Renault) have taken to the track with the “previous cars”, a name taken from the FIA regulations to define the cars of two years ago, which are not subject to the restrictions imposed by the Federation International.
Officially, these tests also escape the constraints of the budget cap, because they are included in the item “marketing activities”, and that is why the days spent on the track are widely advertised on the teams’ social channels. In reality these tests are used to train the starting drivers. The same teams are aware that a day and a half of testing is not enough to guarantee the necessary preparation for a driver to be able to face a season, even with all the benefits that derive from carrying out tests on the same track on which the season will start.
All aspects that are not related to driving the new cars are thus addressed in the track tests with the 2018 and 2019 single-seaters.
A problem that is not the same for everyone
The drastic reduction in testing does not affect all drivers equally. Obviously the most damaged are the beginners, who find themselves having to familiarize with a completely new context having only twelve hours of practice available.
It is no coincidence that AlphaTauri has scheduled several test days for Yuki Tsunoda on the Imola and Misano circuits with the STR14, a tempting opportunity for the Japanese driver to familiarize himself with many specific aspects related to working in a Formula 1 team.
Mick Schumacher also had the opportunity to return to the wheel of a Formula 1 car, an opportunity granted by Ferrari on the Fiorano circuit with the SF71H, while at the moment there is no news of tests carried out by the third rookie of the 2021 World Championship, Nikita Mazepin, who, however, in 2020 was able to complete a substantial program of tests behind the wheel of Mercedes.
In short, teams can take to the track, but not with the current single-seaters. The costs are certainly lower than in tests with 2021 cars, but they are not free tests anyway.
The reduction in pre-season practice also affects the drivers who have changed teams, thus having to adapt to a completely new structure. The 2021 cars do not differ much from those seen on the track last season, and it is conceivable that the driving feeling does not differ drastically compared to the 2020 sisters, but it is an advantage that only drivers who remained in the same team have, while for Perez, Ricciardo, Vettel, Alonso and Carlos Sainz will be starting from scratch at the wheel of a completely unknown car.
The simulator has changed its role
When Formula 1 teams began investing in simulators twenty-five years ago, their purpose was to support the driver’s activity, and the teams themselves called them “driving simulators”.
Year after year, both the computer science itself and the cooperation of the teams with companies in the sector, has led to huge steps forward on the virtual reality front, and the concept of the simulator itself has profoundly changed.
The new generations of hardware / software have become powerful platforms that have hijacked their use on the engineering front, a very valuable ‘tool’ for technical departments (which can evaluate suspension geometries, wheelbase, weight distribution, etc.) and for the drivers
“It can be a help when you are on the eve of a race weekend on an unknown track but otherwise running with a simulator is of little or no use, it is not even demanding on the physical front”. – a driver admitted.
“If they were really useful for driving – commented an insider – rest assured that there would be no free hour on the simulators, and the starting drivers would compete for them with force. Instead, today they stay away from it as much as possible”.
When it comes to driving, selling the simulator as a tool that can compensate for track tests is a big lie. It happens that the technicians are gratified by the young people, who praise their usefulness, but they are drivers taking their first steps in a new world, and they are keen to show themselves available to the technical staff with whom they will have to cooperate. However, the day they get a contract as main drivers, the priority of the simulator drops drastically, until it progressively becomes a nuisance.
So why are there fewer and fewer tests?
Paradoxically, a drastic reduction in tests is convenient for all those who sit at the table where the regulations are discussed and defined. The top teams have been investing astronomical sums in computing systems known as CFDs for years now, budgets that suddenly became available when track tests were abolished. Each top team counts on having something more than the opponents, and now the game is played on these fronts.
For smaller teams, the idea of taking to the track for private tests creates an immediate alarm on the budget front.
“Today the costs per kilometer are really very high – confided a team manager – and I’m not talking about unexpected events like incident on the track, but about the costs of consumables. Everything is subject to wear, a front wing, for example, needs to be replaced after a certain mileage because it loses rigidity, and the cost impact is considerable. However, I am confident in the regulation that will come into force next year, these aspects were also taken into consideration during its drafting, simplifying precisely those more expensive components to lower the overall cost per kilometer “.
All happy then. Apart from drivers, circuits and the movement of enthusiasts in general, who have always found an opportunity in the tests (for different reasons). All realities that do not sit at the table of rules, and whose needs are not the subject of discussion.
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