Does F1 need any more test days?

As is tradition following Formula 1's pre-season testing programme in Barcelona, the gap to Melbourne will be spent trying to make sense of the pecking order.

General consensus suggests Mercedes is the team to beat at the front, while the midfield gaggle remains hard to confidently predict, continuing from last year's tight battle.

But one difference for 2020 is that no team looks hopelessly adrift from the rest of the field, as Williams did last year. All 10 teams were able to rack up some big mileage through the six days of pre-season running, showing few signs of concern after the cut back from the eight days on offer in previous years.

On the opening day of testing, every single team managed to complete more than 100 laps. Every team bar Racing Point had completed a shakedown prior to testing, but even the Silverstone-based outfit was able to hit the ground running and quickly turn attention to finding the limits of its new car.

It's a far cry from the early years of the V6 hybrid regulations, when recurring issues meant sessions were truncated by red flags, and teams would often end days in single figures for laps completed. We had to wait until the third day of testing to get a stoppage this year.

Teams completed a total of 7,744 laps over the six days of running in Barcelona this year, an average of 129 per day, per team. The total of 8,774 laps over eight days last year works out at an average of 109 laps per day, per team.

So with the testing reduction appearing to offer little detriment to the teams, and with F1 becoming more cost-conscious than ever ahead of the budget cap's enforcement from 2021, could we see a further roll-back of testing in the future?

It is something supported by Andrew Green, Racing Point's technical director. The team turned heads with its 'pink Mercedes', but its mileage was arguably the most impressive part of its testing display as it completed 782 laps over six days. Last year, it managed 625 laps in eight days.

"I would have done four days to be honest," said Green on the second day of testing. "I'm always happy to reduce the testing time. I think it goes with what F1 want as far as trying to mix things up. Does everyone want ultra-reliable cars when they first hit the first race? I think a week for me - two days on, day off, two days - is fine, go do it, and see what happens."

Asked if the team could go racing in Australia the next day, Green replied: "We could, yeah."

It would certainly be a fascinating prospect, giving teams limited testing opportunities to create even greater unpredictability heading into the early stages of the season. Teething problems, such as Mercedes' engine issues that arose in both weeks, may instead emerge when it really mattered.

At a time when teams are increasingly reliant on simulation tools for car development, and able to put their engines through huge stresses on dynos, there isn't the same kind of uncertainty of previous eras.

This has naturally been aided by the maturity of the technical regulations. Engine concerns are now rare, given we are into year seven of the V6 hybrids, while the stability of aerodynamic rules between '19 and '20 meant there were few surprises that could realistically emerge.

For Mercedes, much of testing was spent understanding its new, novel dual-axis steering system after its on-track debut on the second day of the first week. Valtteri Bottas explained that while six days of testing was largely sufficient, a bigger window would give more time to try various different programmes.

"I think eight days was a pretty good amount. You could get a lot done and if you had some issues, you could still recover," Bottas said.

"With just six days, it limits your opportunities to try many different things and learning if you have a lot of issues. I think just four days would be a very short time.

"Nowadays the cars are running better and better straight out of the box thanks to all the simulation tools and improvement in technology. I think there's a good amount for now.

"Maybe in the future we could do less, but for now I think it's pretty good."

While cost control is a big focus of the new regulations for 2021, the overhaul of the technical rulebook means just six days of testing may prove limiting. Any fundamental issues in understanding the new package would be difficult to iron out in such a short period of time ahead of the new season.

"We understand it from a cost control perspective, but when you only have six days of pre-season testing, to do everything that you need to do going into the first few races of the year, it's not enough," Claire Williams, deputy team principal

McLaren technical director James Key said that while less running may help keep costs down, the lengths teams may go to in order to rectify issues could lift them back up again.

"The danger or the worry is always if you hit the track and you've got a fundamental issue that you didn't expect at all," Key said.

"With two tests over two weeks, and then effectively going straight to Melbourne, you've got very little time to fix it. The knock-on effect of that is to spend more time and more money to shake all these things out with expensive bits of equipment back in the factory.

"I think ideally we would want a little bit more with new regs. Maybe in the cost cap era, that's actually a little bit more sensible."

The last team to suffer a fundamental issue like Key mentioned was Williams in 2019. Delays and issues with the car build meant the team missed the first two-and-a-half days of testing, and by the end of the opening four-day test, had completed just 88 laps. Had it only had six days instead of eight, its total pre-season lap count would have been a paltry 337.

The team may have turned things around for 2020 and impressed with its pre-season display, but deputy chief Claire Williams remains an advocate for additional test running.

"We understand it from a cost control perspective, but when you only have six days of pre-season testing, to do everything that you need to do going into the first few races of the year, it's not enough," Williams said.

"Regardless of any issue that we might have or may have faced this year or last year, we would be in favour of having more days of pre-season testing. You're always going to get some mitigating factors that take you off the circuit, whether it's your own car issues or engine issues - or even weather. We had snow here two years ago."

An expansion of testing would reduce the impact any adverse weather may have. The snowstorm of 2018 reignited the debate over whether testing should return to the Middle East - which brings its own cost issues - but teams were still able to get through their programmes thanks to the eight-day schedule.

Williams also identified another issue with the reduced testing schedule: the limited track time opportunities for young drivers.

The removal of in-season testing for 2020 means the only real chance for teams to truly try out their juniors will come in the three-day post-season test in Abu Dhabi. The only team to run someone other than its race drivers in Barcelona was Alfa Romeo, who gave Robert Kubica two half-days as part of his new reserve role deal.

"There is very limited opportunity to run young drivers, and I think that's a limiting factor for the sport, certainly for a team like ours that enjoys nurturing young talent," Williams said.

"We have very little opportunity to actually put young talent in the race cars. If you can't put them in the race cars, how can you evaluate them? Are you then creating a scenario where it's actually very difficult to bring new talent into Formula 1 from the junior formula?"

Greater consideration for young drivers is already being considered in the sporting regulations, evidenced by the requirement for teams to run juniors in at least two FP1 sessions from this year

Young drivers may benefit from advancing simulation technology, but nothing is a true substitute for being in the car. Those making the move up to F1 nowadays do so with far less track time than many of their predecessors enjoyed, making an expanded testing programme all the more valuable.

Charles Leclerc was one of the more experienced rookies when he joined Sauber in 2018 after a string of practice and test appearances over the two years prior, but even he felt limited by the lack of pre-season running.

"Six [days] is quite low now, especially for the new drivers," Leclerc said.

"I remember when I arrived in Formula 1, it was four days for each driver, so already on the limit to know the car. So six days will always be even more difficult for them.

"It's only my third year in Formula 1, but I've started to get used a little bit to these cars. So six days can be enough, or three days per driver.

"But for young drivers, probably if I had to choose, I would probably put more rookie days for them, just before the season."

Greater consideration for young drivers is already being considered in the sporting regulations, evidenced by the requirement for teams to run juniors in at least two FP1 sessions from this year. But an extension of this to pre-season running could provide a way to give young drivers more time behind the wheel.

For 2021, an expansion of testing seems likely. As attractive as the unpredictability instigated by limited test running could be for F1 itself, particularly in the early part of the season, teams will surely push to gain as great an understanding of the new cars and regulations as possible.

But once the basics are in place for teams, F1 may learn from how seamless much of the 2020 pre-season running has been and look to cut down the days earlier in the regulation cycle. The eight-day format was unchanged from 2015 to 2019. Might 2021 be the only year with a bigger test window before rolling it back again, with provisions for young drivers made separately?

Regardless of F1's future testing approach, the teams and engineers will continue to do everything they can with the time they are given.

But in an era where F1 is thinking outside of the box when it comes to shaking up the competitive order, it's worth pondering just how a grand prix after little more than a 100km shakedown would play out.