F1 teams close to testing agreement

Ferrari stood alone last season in refusing to sign-up to the 30-day in-season limit that was agreed between the other nine teams. The Maranello outfit believed that it was more cost efficient to restrict testing through a mileage limit rather than a day limit.

Although Ferrari's insistence on the matter appeared to have scuppered any chance of a deal being struck for this year, with some team's arguing they would not agree to a limit for 2006 unless every team signed up, moves have since taken place to find a compromise solution.

Autosport.com understands that a provisional deal has now been struck between teams and that a document is being circulated  in a bid to get every outfit's signature of approval before a deadline of next Monday. The deal will only stand if all of F1's 11 teams approve the limitation.

It is understood that Ferrari, Renault, Honda and Williams have all so far put their signature to the deal, with other teams expected to do so imminently.

Toyota's Richard Cregan dismissed suggestions that his team were set to block the deal.

"That is not correct," he told autosport.com. "We are fully supportive of a testing agreement, as we were last year. We are really pushing for a deal to be struck and we support the concessions that have been made."

Although the exact details of the testing agreement have not been confirmed, it is understood to revolve around the basic premise of a 36-day in-season limit, that will run from next week's Bahrain Grand Prix until the season-closing Brazilian Grand Prix, and includes a summer testing ban.

The compromise solution that has won over Ferrari's support is believed to relate to exactly how the 36-days are counted as well as a way for teams to run at two tracks occasionally.

It is believed that teams can nominate circuits in their home country that will be exempt from the agreement under certain circumstances, as well as the possibility that aerodynamic straight-line testing will not count either.

These clauses in the deal mean, for example, that Ferrari will continue to be allowed to use their Fiorano and Mugello facilities without compromising their chance to test at other circuits.

There were fears that if a testing deal was not struck this year then testing costs would escalate dramatically, as a time when teams are trying to bring down the amount they spend.

Teams would also likely have tested at Grand Prix tracks shortly before the race in a bid to improve their knowledge. Honda Racing, Ferrari and Scuderia Toro Rosso have already tested at Bahrain recently because a previous agreement outlawing testing outside of Europe no longer stood.

Williams technical director Sam Michael said earlier this year that teams would change where they tested if there was no agreement.

"If there is no testing agreement then we will try and test on Grand Prix tracks," he said. "So you will test at Imola, Nurburgring and Magny-Cours for example, the tracks we cannot test on now, just weeks before the race."