Test ban would 'push up costs'

Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn has already labelled any ban on testing "a nonsense" and Dennis has backed him up.

"You look at some of these people proposing a testing ban and wonder whether they come from the planet Zog," Dennis said in Barcelona. "There is no regulation anywhere that obliges you to go testing," he pointed out. "If you don't want to, don't go. But what position do you think Niki [Lauda] would be in with Jaguar if he wasn't able to test? What they're really saying is: let's try to level the technical playing field."

Dennis claims that those supporting a test ban haven't properly thought it through. "Take those who say that we should test at races on Friday," he said. "Well, at the moment if we have a rear wing that looks good in the wind tunnel we can take one to a test and see if it works. If we were testing at a race, something would look great in the tunnel, so we'd make four and then when it didn't work we'd have four to throw in the bin instead of one.

"What would happen is that the better-funded teams would invest in hugely sophisticated rigs and simulation equipment. Believe me, the cheapest place to test a racing car is on a circuit. People supporting a test ban might say that now, but they won't when they're sat there 107 percent off the front row."