Why won't Formula 1 help young drivers?

Last week's news that Pascal Wehrlein has secured a place on the Formula 1 grid is a shot in the arm for grand prix racing. To have the reigning DTM champion make the move up to the so-called pinnacle of motorsport is exactly what should be happening.

It means there will be three rookies on the grid, with his new team-mate Rio Haryanto, a GP2 race winner, and 2014 GP2 champion Jolyon Palmer making his debut with Renault. And there is also a foot in the door for reigning GP3 champion Esteban Ocon who takes up a Renault reserve role.

There will always be a long list of drivers talented enough to compete in F1 who never even come close. Only a fraction can make it, but that is the same at the top level of any sport.

F1 needs to be about the world's best drivers, those who have proved themselves in lower formulas. But increasing financial pressures mean they need backing to secure a seat. Wehrlein and Ocon have that backing from Mercedes, but others need it from sponsors. Palmer had to find a package of around £6million.

"It's very pleasing to see young drivers earning their spot in Formula 1 on merit and to see that talent is being rewarded by the system," says Mercedes chief Toto Wolff.

"Pascal and Esteban have proven themselves to be among the top young drivers out there - and both come into 2016 as champions of their respective series."

Even for those on the periphery of F1, experience in a grand prix car is confined largely to the simulator combined with, for the lucky ones, a relatively small amount of track time.

That young, talented drivers who win significant junior championships often do not have the chance to prove themselves, let alone with a team they hope to gain employment with, is a serious concern.

Gone are the days of separate test teams spending several days a week, pounding round, trying hundreds of parts. That provided the perfect opportunity for teams to test out young drivers.

Damon Hill tested extensively with Williams in 1991 and '92 before getting a race seat © LAT

Williams even ran a shootout test to decide whether to run Jenson Button or Bruno Junqueira in 2000. Testing restrictions mean those shootouts are almost impossible to do now. Teams have just 12 days per season in which to test. Of those, eight take place pre-season and are focused on the race drivers.

Four days, split into two, two-day in-season tests are all that remain. At least two of those days are dedicated to 'young' drivers, defined as one who has competed in no more than two grands prix - albeit with no age restrictions. It's something, but it's not enough.

How can a driver expect to get up to speed and impress in such a short space of time? How can a team learn enough about them to be sure they are worth promoting over a proven old hand?

Even those who get what is considered a lot of running these days are limited. Palmer had a relatively luxurious four days of testing and 13 Friday practice sessions last year. That's a total of 3112km, which is an unusually large amount, but his F1 weekend runs were during the opening session, when the track is in its worst condition.

He was also limited to two sets of tyres per session and could not lay it on the line for fear of damaging the car and compromising the race driver's weekend - in his case Romain Grosjean. Hardly ideal circumstances. No wonder Renault's trackside head of operations Alan Permane says he wants to see more aggression from Palmer.

"Jolyon didn't have too much of a chance to shine last year," he says. "He was very unlucky with the weather, missing a lot of first practice running. He still did well, but now I would like to see him do even more as he was possibly cautious, I don't know."

The simple solution is to allow more testing. But that will lead to increasing costs yet more. So if dramatically increasing track time is not the answer, a way must be found to incentivise teams giving mileage to young drivers.

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In IndyCar, teams are allowed an extra day of testing if it's divided between a regular driver and a driver competing in the Indy Lights feeder series. That plan could be adapted for use in F1.

Or perhaps there could be a third-driver session on grand prix weekends. Using a handicap system to adjust the laptimes, whichever driver sets the fastest time earns their team an extra set of tyres for each of its drivers to use. Even if that prize is only for the afternoon's session, it will make a difference and be worth fighting for.

In the second segment, drivers could compete in a knockout. They will head out on track at the same time with enough fuel to do 11 consecutive quick laps. At the end of each lap, the slowest driver will be black-flagged and return to the pits. The process continues until there's one left.

Points could be awarded for a separate championship based on that, with ballast added for the following race weekend to allow for a fairer fight across the season. The rookies will gain experience and be able to sharpen their skills in front of 11 prospective employers.

The session could take place on a Thursday, separate from the main grand prix weekend. That would add an extra element to the show to help promoters sell tickets, while giving fans better value for money.

An alternative would be to allow each team to run a young driver in a third car during Friday practice. The extra chassis would add to the budget, but it would mean more cars on track. Teams could gather more data without fear of pushing the engine too much because it would only be doing Friday running and wouldn't count for the championship.

F1's bosses must add the subject to the agenda of the next Strategy Group and F1 Commission meetings because this is a serious problem that has been ignored for too long.

If not solved soon, it threatens F1's position as the pinnacle of motorsport. And at the very least, the subject will provide welcome relief from the endless chat about the 2017 regulations.