The Weekly Grapevine

The new testing agreement

After many false starts, some going back to October 2004, Formula One has at last, it was said in Suzuka, agreed terms for a distance-linked test cap for 2007. Whilst details remain sketchy, with sources providing information on condition of anonymity, next year's F1 test programmes will be a far cry from that which went before.

Importantly, the eleven team bosses agreed on an overall cap of 30,000 kilometres, as previously insisted upon by Ferrari, with the sport in the process of ditching the complicated 30-day cap voluntarily signed up to by nine of the ten teams for 2005 (with the Italian team being the sole dissenter), and the even more convoluted 36-day limit (with testing at nominated 'home' circuits counting as half a day) agreed to by all for this season.

From discussions with various team members and tyre company representatives, it appears that the latest test pact requires that the year be divided into three distinctly different periods - pre-season, in-season, and post-season - with an overall limit of 30,000 test kilometres per team, accumulated via no more than 300 sets of tyres, being agreed upon.

In addition, Grand Prix Fridays will in future be deemed to be official test days, with teams permitted to run up to two cars - and, saliently, not necessarily their race drivers - on an unlimited basis within the timetable. Distances accumulated will not contribute to the cap, nor will tyre usage be deducted from the 300-set allowance.

According to a Bridgestone source, the last-mentioned point had been suggested, but the company could not confirm at the time of writing that the restriction had been definitively agreed to by all.

Michael Schumacher testing the Ferrari at Jerez © XPB/LAT

During the first period, running from 1 January to the week immediately preceding the first Grand Prix, teams are permitted to schedule five tests of three days each, for a maximum of two cars on each occasion - with distances logged up during these being deducted from the overall allowance.

Then, during the period between the first and last races, teams may test on eight occasions, with each session being for one car only, and lasting three days. Distances and tyres will count towards the overall caps.

Finally, after the final race, two sessions of three days for two cars may be scheduled within teams' individual residual distance and tyre allowances.

According to one technical director, though, the distance and tyre caps are basically theoretical, as the limited number of car days agreed to makes it fundamentally impossible for teams to reach the allowances. And, he has a point: 300 sets of tyres may equate to 100 kilometres per set on average, but testing is notoriously hard on components and rubber (with inevitable crashes and 'offs' taking their toll), whilst 30,000 kilometres divided by the permitted 66 car days pans out at 450-odd kilometres per day per car on average - a tall order for even the best-funded and most reliable of teams.

The agreement is, though, a step in the right direction, for, if for no other reason, it was voluntarily agreed to by all 11 team bosses without any form of bureaucratic directive or intervention. True, it still plays to the strengths of the wealthier outfits - with it being doubtful whether the likes of Spyker MF1 and Scuderia Toro Rosso - will run anywhere near 30,000 kms in 12 months despite both heading for a change of engine supplier.

Ditto Williams-Toyota and Red Bull-Renault, although the effect will be lessened for this outfit by their access to an array of simulation facilities not (yet?) available to the aforementioned operations.

And, therein lies the rub: what practical use a test cap - whether linked to days or distance - if synthetic alternatives effectively enable teams to circumvent both the spirit and intent of the agreement - which is designed to (primarily) 'level' the sport's economic playing fields?

That issue will, rightly or wrongly - there exist extremely valid arguments for and against restrictions of any kind in what is, and should remain, the absolute pinnacle of motorsport - will apparently be addressed by the 2008-2012 sporting and technical regulations by clauses which will restrict wind tunnel and simulator rig access. Until then, Formula One is stuck with voluntary deals and agreements between teams.

What has not been agreed, is where and when the 2007 test sessions may take place. As matters stand at present, certainly as related by our sources, it appears the 11 teams could test at different circuits at different times throughout. Thus, theoretically, Team A could be running at Jerez on Monday-Wednesday in a given week, with Team B testing from Tuesday-Thursday at Valencia in the same week and Team C slogging around Barcelona on Wednesday to Friday, and so forth.

Imagine the nightmare logistics for Bridgestone. Given the single-supplier, two compound situation which will then exist - negating the need for intensive tyre development - the company will hardly, if at all, benefit from the in-season test sessions, yet will be required to follow teams running just one car to far-flung places merely to supply and fit the ten or so sets of rubber required during a three-day period.

Bridgestone tires at a test session © Reuters

Better, surely, for teams to co-ordinate their test programmes, thus making life for Bridgestone (and themselves) simpler, and, above all, more cost-effective. Of course, there will always be little Johnnies marching to their own drums, whether by design or need, but a concerted (and considerate) effort could see major savings made in this regard - which is, after all, the ultimate objective of the agreement.

Such co-ordination would bring with it various welcome by-products. Times set and associated activities would be directly comparable, media coverage would increase by dint of concentrated activities at circuits, providing additional exposure for teams; above all, fans could plan well in advance to attend, secure in the knowledge that more than just a handful of cars would be running.

This, in turn, would enable circuit owners to benefit from gate fees and to plan associated activities around the test sessions - consider the attendances enjoyed by Silverstone during the circuit's structured annual test sessions, then extrapolate the numbers for other venues.

During the course of a Grand Prix season, each team runs a maximum of 11,000 kilometres (310 kms. x 18 events x 2 cars); in-season testing, if the full allowance is utilized, will see outfits runs for approximately double that. Fan interest surely exists, and, by extension, welcome publicity and promotional opportunities for the manufacturers and sponsors, who, after all, are committed to Formula One for precisely those reasons, will avail themselves.

The changes to Grand Prix Friday activities, too, are welcome - assuming, of course, that the changes will be ratified by the powers-that-be, for the day's activities are very much part of the official event programme. Of late fans and circuit owners have been so short-changed by restrictions imposed by cost-saving regulations (and reduced scheduled running time during race weekends), that any changes which incentivises drivers to take to the track - particularly on the first day - are top be welcomed.

As proof, consider how track time during a race weekend has fallen of late: not only are teams fundamentally forced to restrict running to conserve their engines, but half an hour was recently sliced out of Saturday programmes, whilst knockout qualifying further reduces on-track running.

Factor in the removal of the traditional 45-minute Sunday morning warm-up, and a fairly strong case could be made that spectators at circuits have had their on-track spectacles reduced by 50% over the last three or so years - whilst admission and grand stand prices have, in many cases, doubled. Is it any wonder that most Grand Prix promoters post substantial losses?

Freeing up Friday activities will at least go some way towards redressing this situation, all whilst providing teams with opportunities of evaluating up to two new drivers during Grand Prix weekends, and saving them money. Sounds like an absolute bargain.

Given that test restrictions are inevitable - quite, why, though, is open to question, for never in the 56-year old history of the sport has there been greater motor manufacturer participation and wealthier team owners - the agreement as struck in Suzuka is a step in the right direction.

To be truly effective, cost- and image- wise, further agreement to go the full nine yards is required. Whether Formula One, having for once achieved true unanimity over a complicated issue, has the ability to do so again by agreeing to the final steps, the next month or so will prove.