In recent days we had the opportunity to see Scuderia Ferrari Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc get behind the wheel of an F2003GA car (where the GA stands for Gianni Agnelli, who died shortly before the F1 challenger was presented) and there were several comparisons with the F1-75. Apart from everything there was the huge consideration that the former is much more agile (weight/power ratio in its favour) and that the latter is literally a ‘whale’ which, above all in mixed sections, does not enhance the skill of the drivers (like all single-seaters of the turbo-hybrid era ).
This above all reminded us how said it is to thing that the sport prevents its athletes from training and testing and remains one of the issues which fans disapprove of the most in terms of F1 rules.
Formula One, perhaps unique in the entire history of competitive disciplines (there is an engine at work but it is still a sport) for more than a decade now (since the 2009 world championship) has banned private tests and, even in recent years it went from two weeks of pre-season testing to just 3/4 days.
Of course, it should be remembered that even in this case there are famous exceptions that prove the rule. For example in 2012 (collective tests at Mugello during the current world championship), and another exception not to be proud of. In fact, Mercedes was clamorously absolved of any guilt for the ugly mess of 2013, when, during the night, it pretended to be leaving Barcelona (the grand prix had just been raced) then returned its trucks and completed hundreds of kilometers on the circuit with the single-seaters they had just raced.
The case exploded when other teams learned about it. And it became grotesque because in the end Mercedes got away with a hundred thousand euro fine, which means basically nothing.
However, having said that, in 2009 it was clear that the anti-testing rules were not an attempt to save costs, as the federation officials shouted from the rooftops (less tests, less costs ) but a trivial attempt to level the performance of various teams, especially the top ones and, in particular, Ferrari which was the only F1 team to have two own circuits: Fiorano and Mugello.
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A few years later, Luca di Montezemolo, who had accepted the plan to ban testing without using the team’s iconic right to veto, complained precisely about the fact that F1 was the only sport in which drivers could not train. For many fans those comments seemed like a belated attempt to change things. And in fact nothing has changed. Thus simulators took over, increasingly efficient and expensive, and the drivers began to grind kilometers with the old single-seaters of the team they compete for. At least this is not prohibited, even if it is also subject to restrictions.
Therefore, track tests with “new” single-seaters are forbidden, but they can be done with old single-seaters. The regulation speaks of single-seaters that must be at least two years old. The question that arises is: don’t tests with the old single-seaters cost money, don’t they need personnel, don’t they move vehicles and men?
Another curious paradox is that the Federation, on the one hand, has done a lot to make single-seaters ever safer… commendable! But, on the other hand, by preventing the drivers from gaining more and more confidence with their cars, it has put them in a situation of greater potential danger. Curious right?
Returning to Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, he justified himself stating that he accepted the ban on testing for the good of F1 and that Ferrari had to demonstrate that it was capable of winning without living off an “income”.
In fact, since 2008 the Maranello team hasn’t won a world championship. But it must certainly be a coincidence. And we are very close to breaking the 21-year negative record (From Scheckter to Schumacher). That choice of the most successful president in the history of Maranello (after the founder) unfortunately had a long wave so devoid of satisfaction as to overshadow his last years, before being replaced by Sergio Marchionne.
What does the story of the testing ban teach us? That accepting any rules and being chivalrous in a world of sharks (as well as underestimating your opponents) ends badly. On the contrary, since 2014, with the advent of the turbo-hybrid era, Mercedes has dominated far and wide. After the famous illegal test and with a tailored regulation, also accepted by Ferrari and Montezemolo (another very serious and even fatal mistake).
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