Team bosses have warned against changing the rules for 2011 in a bid to continue cutting costs.
With a new tyre supplier entering the sport next season, teams are worried that the inadequate testing allowance won’t give them the opportunity to gain valuable knowledge on how the tyres operate.
Ferrari have also raised concerns that without having a third car, the fans are robbed of seeing all cars competing in qualifying, as seen in Monaco when Fernando Alonso damaged his chassis beyond repair.
However, changing the rules to accommodate test sessions and spare cars will only reverse the cost cuts of recent.
Williams CEO, Adam Parr, reckons Formula One has reached a ‘delicate balance’ which has enabled teams to save money, whilst ensuring F1 remains the pinnacle of motorsport.
“I think we have reached a very delicate balance over the last couple of years,” ITV quote him as saying.
“We have got the costs down to a very much lower level than they were and we have a programme over the next two years to reduce them further under the Resource Restriction Agreement, which is a voluntary agreement within FOTA.
“I am very concerned that we don’t chuck that all out because very few things that one could do are actually going to improve the show very much, or at all, and they are certainly going to increase costs.
“I think this is not the moment to start changing things that are going to increase costs.”
Ferrari boss, Stefano Domenicali agrees in principle. However the Italian reckons F1 needs to look at changing the testing regulations to ensure they are properly prepared.
“With a change of tyres it will be crucial not to arrive at the last minute without any proper testing, otherwise maybe we will have big problems during the race weekend which is what we don’t want,” he said.
Another point he highlighted, was the possibility of changing the race weekend to accommodate a test session.
This has previously been suggested, where by teams get a test on the Monday after a GP. This will mean test drivers can gain experience whilst the team can evaluate new updates, without the worry that they need to set the car up for a GP, as is the case on Friday. This would also reduce the costs of travelling to test circuits between races.
“Maybe, and this is another point that we are thinking, to see without changing and going back to test team recruitment as this is not correct and is totally wrong, but to see if we can select a different weekend format or extended day for testing in order to make sure we can do a little bit more.”
