F1 bosses speak out over testing ban

New rules to ban testing from the last race of the season until the end of December to reduce costs will backfire dramatically, according to team bosses Ron Dennis, Eddie Jordan and Patrick Head.

The trio reckons testing costs will rocket because teams will have to spend a fortune on computer simulation equipment for those two months. And then they will be faced with a bigger bill for an accelerated development programme from the New Year to have the car ready for the opening round in Melbourne.

"It means it is going to be a lot more intensive in January and February than it was before," said Williams technical director Patrick Head. "I can see teams running more than two cars because they are going to have to get through more work in a shorter time."

And McLaren's Ron Dennis was critical of the smaller teams who had instigated the testing ban, saying they were only now "waking up" to the consequences of their actions.

"It's important to remember the request for this came from the smaller teams," said Dennis. "But I have always strongly held the view that the cheapest place to test the car is on the circuit and most of the people who are now uncomfortable with the new regulations are the very people who asked for it.

"The result is that this is going to open the gap between the smaller teams and the larger ones for the first few races."