What teams lose and gain from F1’s testing restrictions

Does the lack of official testing hurt the current breed of Formula 1 teams? There are two ways of looking at this question.

Back in the dark ages before mobile phones (well actually the 1980s) as teams started to grow in numbers of personnel, it became fashionable to have a separate group to concentrate on testing items and set-ups. This might consist of one or two experienced mechanics who had spent time with the race team, but it was also a good way to bring on younger mechanics to give them more experience before they too moved on to racing.

At first, this would involve running one of the race cars or the T-car, the third chassis that the race team would take to each race as a backup if one of the race cars was damaged or not favoured by the drivers. Until 2008, most teams had a separate group of mechanics and engineers who could be found experimenting at different circuits or airfields around the world from January to December. But the FIA announced that testing was becoming too expensive and along came a directive to teams that expenditure was to be limited which changed the complexion of F1 overnight.

As the need arose for cars to become more reliable than ever, due to limitations in the number of components that could be used each season and with less on-track activity to iron out their weaknesses, emphasis increased on the contribution of what was called the stress department (not to look after the welfare of the workforce but metallurgy!) looking at using special materials and ways to stop components breaking down. Out of secrecy, teams became more reliant on manufacturing all their own parts, making these departments a vital part of the design process. Recent years have shown a remarkable increase in reliability, which shows this was a wise move.

Nowadays teams are now allowed 200km to shake down their new cars under the guise of a filming day, but at a circuit such as Silverstone this still only equates to around 33 laps, less than a race distance. Then the official pre-season test in Bahrain is only three days, a vast reduction compared to 20 years ago. Between the end of the 2003 season and the start of 2004, Renault’s test driver Franck Montagny did 24 test days, while Marc Gene did 28 for Williams.

Of course, now the season finishes much later than it did in 2003, when there were just 16 races with the last of those in October. This season there will be 24 races, including two triple-headers. That means teams still get plenty of track time to understand and refine their cars, even if restrictions on how many hours they can spend in wind tunnels and using CFD gives them less freedom to optimise their designs compared to pre-cost cap days when they could throw as many parts at the cars as they could afford.

Photo by: Mark Capilitan

Gene and Montagny were kept especially busy by their teams on the eve of the 2004 season, but it brought benefits to more than just test drivers

Teams invest considerable sums in driving simulators which have become so sophisticated that car set-ups including springs, anti-roll bars, ride heights and wing levels can be determined for the upcoming Grand Prix. This is especially valuable at new circuits where no data exists, for example in Las Vegas.

Both the regular drivers will use the simulators before an event, but even during a race weekend, teams will have an experienced backup driver finetuning set-ups using feedback from trackside engineers. This has surely helped the smaller teams who in the past couldn’t always spend time and money on extensive testing.

It can therefore be argued that teams don’t suffer too much from testing restrictions. Even when Pirelli limits the number of tyres that can be used during a Grand Prix weekend, the teams will have saved as many again by not having at least one test between each race.

The outstanding memories for me was the camaraderie that came with working with great characters, especially without the same pressure as being at races

But although the quest for relentless performance has become more efficient, it can be argued that teams have also lost something on the human side without regular testing. The outstanding memory for me was the camaraderie that came with working with great characters, especially without the same pressure as being at races. Many people just don’t get to experience this now given the relentless schedules involved in modern F1, although there are other roles that can blood young talents in the way test teams used to.

Before the advent of full-size wind tunnels, F1 teams regularly used to hire 40- and 50% model tunnels, normally owned or associated with universities such as Southampton, or aircraft companies such as at Farnborough. However, using these tunnels required booking sessions that could be few and far between, and that meant a visit to a lesser-used airfield was the alternative for teams to test aerodynamic set-ups or get a handle on the chassis balance.

Bookable time at these could be hard to come by too. Among the most popular were Lurcy-Levis in central France, not far from Magny-Cours, or Bruntingthorpe in Leicestershire and RAF Keevil near Trowbridge. The latter, however, being a military airfield but not widely used in those days by aircraft, was still used as a practice ground for Hercules transport planes that periodically dropped heavy objects next to the main runway. During these times it meant curtailing any running of the cars, but provided great entertainment for us and was a diversion to the boring up-and-down runs at fixed speeds on the mile-long runway.

A more exotic location could be found at Idiada near Tarragona about 100kms south of Barcelona. A bespoke proving ground for the automotive industry, again the waiting list for availability was long. At Renault, when we were running Michelin tyres, we were invited to use the research facility at Clermont-Ferrand in central France. There we could use not only the test track but also the rocking kinematic rig that determined accurately the centre of gravity of the complete car.

Photo by: Ercole Colombo

Wright (with clipboard) enjoyed social element of testing without the pressure of GPs

In terms of the testing, when I was an engineer at McLaren, we had a dedicated test team based in Japan to be near the Honda R&D centre at Wako. During 1988/1989 we did multiple tests either at Suzuka or Fuji.

Whereas I would fly back and forth for each test with suitcases full of car parts, the three or four mechanics would stay for two months at a time in a hotel near Wako, which was hard for them especially when it came to feeding themselves. When it came to flying back out to Japan, they would load their suitcases with tins of baked beans and soup for a taste of home now and again!

I managed to make 26 trips to and from Japan over two years plus attending several races in between the testing. When at Suzuka we would stay in the Circuit Hotel, but quickly tired of the traditional breakfast until one of the Honda mechanics told us there about a new McDonalds opening nearby. From then on it was McDonalds for breakfast and an introduction to the scaldingly hot apple turnovers!

Emanuele Pirro was our main driver dovetailing his outings between his Japanese Formula 3000 races. Occasionally either Ayrton Senna or Alain Prost would turn up and drive a few laps just to confirm any finer set-up changes. During one particular visit, Ayrton was asked by Honda to drive two of their new NSX supercars to see which set-up he preferred. Having done that for them, he motioned for me to join him in the car. I managed to fold my 6ft 2in frame into the passenger seat along with the instruments that were collecting data, whereupon he proceeded to take me on a very quick lap of Suzuka that I will never forget.

We then travelled back to Tokyo together on the bullet train later that day, and during the journey, he was able to describe in detail what the race car was doing at each corner. This was one of the remarkable and extraordinary abilities he possessed and why he was so popular with Honda. He would spend hours going through data with them to find ways of improving not only his driving, but the way the engine responded to his input.

There was always the pre-Grand Prix collective test in Rio de Janeiro, but I can remember conducting tests at Hockenheim, Hungaroring and Imola as well as the famous one at Pembrey in South Wales. This was of course on the back of the fallout between Senna and Prost at Imola in 1988. Ron Dennis flew down specially in the TAG helicopter and read them the riot act in the back of our test truck, with the back door firmly closed. We all hung around outside drinking tea and feeling most uncomfortable!

It’s a memory that will never leave me. All things considered then, while the teams haven't really lost out, perhaps the people have...

Photo by: Sutton Images

Dennis's arrival at a Pembrey test in 1988 to read his drivers the riot act is one Wright says he'll never forget