Formula 1 teams fail to reach deal over 2014 testing plans

Teams have been edging towards revising the current 12-day limit to pre-season testing as a one-off for 2014, when there will be new engine and car regulations.

Although there is widespread support for an extra test in January, which now looks set to happen, there is split opinion about how the rest of pre-season testing should shape up.

AUTOSPORT understands that during a meeting of the F1's 'Sporting Committee' - which is made up of team managers - there was no firm consensus about how to structure pre-season testing.

Five teams wanted there to be 12 days of testing across both January and February, five teams wanted there to be 15 days of testing in January and February, while one team wanted there to just be 12 days of testing in February.

While the total number of testing days remains divisive, the voting does at least show that 10 teams do want a January test, and that limited running to three four-day tests has support from six teams.

FIA COULD MAKE DECISION

With the matter needing to go to the FIA World Council in June, and there being no clear cut vote beforehand, there is a chance that a final decision on the outcome will be left for the governing body.

It is almost certain, however, that the rules that ban testing in January will be tweaked for 2014 to allow a test to take place then.

A proposal put forward by Ferrari to allow a return of in-season testing did not get the necessary support.

Ferrari had wanted there to be a total of nine days in-season testing to be allowed from 2014, but only five teams voted in favour of it.

SILVERSTONE TO HOST YOUNG DRIVER TEST

F1 teams have also agreed that there will be a single young driver test this year, rather than the split option that occurred last season.

The current plan is for there to be a test at Silverstone in the gap between the German Grand Prix on July 7 and the Hungarian Grand Prix on July 28.