Teams agree 30-day test limit
Formula 1 teams are now edging towards a final compromise on a planned limit of testing next season after being forced to make plans for their 2005 programmes following the publication of next year's official calendar, autosport.com can reveal
Although much was made of a scheme to limit testing to just 24 days during the season, following agreement amongst the majority of teams, those plans were set to be dropped after autosport.com revealed last week that BAR future co-owner Honda was against such a restrictive limit. Ferrari has already publicly stated it will not go along with the plans.
But following the publication of the official 2005 calendar, which features no less than six back-to-back races, team managers and technical chiefs have held a series of informal talks at the test in Jerez in the last 24 hours to plan a way forwards.
Autosport.com understands that with teams favouring keeping each test at a length of three days, especially considering the amount of long-distance running needed at tests to evaluate components for 2005's long-life regulations, agreement has been reached for 10 tests of three day's length.
This makes most sense as it can easily be slotted into the gaps in the calendar - and any increase above that limit would actually be quite difficult.
The move to 30 days is obviously up on the 24-day limit laid down by team bosses, but should still be a step forward over the mammoth 48-days of testing that the teams conducted during the season in 2004.
The 30-day agreement will now be put to team bosses, with their next meeting due to take place in early January. The sport's governing body, the FIA, does not need to ratify any limit because testing limits are decided privately by the teams.
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