i believe that in the interest of the sport the teams should be allowed to test in season,as a safety concern teams develop parts is the wind tunnels but the behavior of these parts on the track are different and as was shown by the force India at the British grand prix failures at practice could be dangerous if not fatal ,yes there is a cost involved with this but as is evident in the season  the teams at the sharp end at the beginning of a season stay there as even if you develop your car mid season you are not able to test the parts on the car until practice so as a result you adandon parts as their behavior under track conditions are not known .i follow formula 1 as it is the pinnacle of motor sport and would love to see the cars go to their peak not bottle necked by the Fia

I don't think many here would argue with that

Yes, but that is what FOTA wants to control costs. FOTA suggested a 50% reduction for testing in 2009, and the suggestion for 2010 is to reduce testing to four four-day single-car pre-season tests plus one single-car pre-season shakedown.

I think the testing ban went from one extreme to the other didnt it, two 4 day tests throughout the season would be fine. one after the first 4 flyaway races and another at mid season during an extended summer break would be fine, it would give teams a chance to sort themselves out if they'd made a duffer of a car like mclaren have.

Much as ive enjoyed seeing ferrari and mclaren struggling to get into qualy 2 and 3 its stupid that the sports two biggest teams should have already given up on their 2009 season before we've reached the half way mark, i was looking forward to 4 or 5 teams dicing for a win towards the latter half of the season but it looks like we're just going to end up with red bull and brawn ... makes a change from ferrai and mclaren but in reality its same old problem isnt it?

twinkle_toes22:

I think the testing ban went from one extreme to the other didnt it, two 4 day tests throughout the season would be fine. one after the first 4 flyaway races and another at mid season during an extended summer break would be fine, it would give teams a chance to sort themselves out if they'd made a duffer of a car like mclaren have.

Much as ive enjoyed seeing ferrari and mclaren struggling to get into qualy 2 and 3 its stupid that the sports two biggest teams should have already given up on their 2009 season before we've reached the half way mark, i was looking forward to 4 or 5 teams dicing for a win towards the latter half of the season but it looks like we're just going to end up with red bull and brawn ... makes a change from ferrai and mclaren but in reality its same old problem isnt it?

some in season testing should be allowed for safety's sake . It's not fair to ask the drivers to test massive changes to the car during a race weekend . Sutil was lucky that it was a side impact at silverstone and not a head on . 

Imo they should be allowed 4 days of  in season testing sessions . These should be used to test major upgrades . If a team has used up their 4 day's and want's make major changes to their car the upgrades should be banned . No major upgrades without at least 1 day to make sure the upgrade is safe . 

If things stay the way they are it's only a matter of time before someone get's seriously injured . Racing in unpredictable cars that the drivers are not used to could be catostrophic

I don't want to see anymore deaths in F1 . I don't want to see drivers being injured . They put themselves at enough risk for our entertainment as it is . When it comes to safety F1 should not be penny pinching . 

Pretty simple in my eyes really, if the testing ban continues, whomever produces the best car at the beginning of the season has won. This is also aided by the present points system, making it even more difficult to make up for early season losses.

I think that twinkle_toes22 idea of a compromise is a good one and would enable teams to catch-up and give us fans a real championship to watch.

Mark my words, if things don't change, whilst people are enjoying a change in the order of championship standings this year, the chances are that next year the previous few decades status quo will return as the big teams (McLaren, Ferrari, etc) will be spending loads of money, design time, etc in next years car. What I prefer though, is to see competitive racing and those who have fallen behind still left with a fighting chance to improve and/or turn around the situation throughout the season, NOT the season to have been decided at the first few races.

Well done to Brawn for this season and lets look forward to some stability and better racing in future.

wallace i:

twinkle_toes22:

I think the testing ban went from one extreme to the other didnt it, two 4 day tests throughout the season would be fine. one after the first 4 flyaway races and another at mid season during an extended summer break would be fine, it would give teams a chance to sort themselves out if they'd made a duffer of a car like mclaren have.

Much as ive enjoyed seeing ferrari and mclaren struggling to get into qualy 2 and 3 its stupid that the sports two biggest teams should have already given up on their 2009 season before we've reached the half way mark, i was looking forward to 4 or 5 teams dicing for a win towards the latter half of the season but it looks like we're just going to end up with red bull and brawn ... makes a change from ferrai and mclaren but in reality its same old problem isnt it?

some in season testing should be allowed for safety's sake . It's not fair to ask the drivers to test massive changes to the car during a race weekend . Sutil was lucky that it was a side impact at silverstone and not a head on . 

Imo they should be allowed 4 days of  in season testing sessions . These should be used to test major upgrades . If a team has used up their 4 day's and want's make major changes to their car the upgrades should be banned . No major upgrades without at least 1 day to make sure the upgrade is safe . 

If things stay the way they are it's only a matter of time before someone get's seriously injured . Racing in unpredictable cars that the drivers are not used to could be catostrophic

I don't want to see anymore deaths in F1 . I don't want to see drivers being injured . They put themselves at enough risk for our entertainment as it is . When it comes to safety F1 should not be penny pinching . 

Sorry, but I don't see the distinction between a driver having a catastrophic failure in testing or in practice, in fact the medical facilities and marshalling are far better during the GP weekend than in testing!

asanator:

wallace i:

twinkle_toes22:

I think the testing ban went from one extreme to the other didnt it, two 4 day tests throughout the season would be fine. one after the first 4 flyaway races and another at mid season during an extended summer break would be fine, it would give teams a chance to sort themselves out if they'd made a duffer of a car like mclaren have.

Much as ive enjoyed seeing ferrari and mclaren struggling to get into qualy 2 and 3 its stupid that the sports two biggest teams should have already given up on their 2009 season before we've reached the half way mark, i was looking forward to 4 or 5 teams dicing for a win towards the latter half of the season but it looks like we're just going to end up with red bull and brawn ... makes a change from ferrai and mclaren but in reality its same old problem isnt it?

some in season testing should be allowed for safety's sake . It's not fair to ask the drivers to test massive changes to the car during a race weekend . Sutil was lucky that it was a side impact at silverstone and not a head on . 

Imo they should be allowed 4 days of  in season testing sessions . These should be used to test major upgrades . If a team has used up their 4 day's and want's make major changes to their car the upgrades should be banned . No major upgrades without at least 1 day to make sure the upgrade is safe . 

If things stay the way they are it's only a matter of time before someone get's seriously injured . Racing in unpredictable cars that the drivers are not used to could be catostrophic

I don't want to see anymore deaths in F1 . I don't want to see drivers being injured . They put themselves at enough risk for our entertainment as it is . When it comes to safety F1 should not be penny pinching . 

Sorry, but I don't see the distinction between a driver having a catastrophic failure in testing or in practice, in fact the medical facilities and marshalling are far better during the GP weekend than in testing!

I'm sure they are but some of these upgrades drasticly changes the way the car behaves from one race to the next . The point I'm trying to make is the drivers don't know if it's a good change or a bad change untill the race weekend .

asanator:

wallace i:

twinkle_toes22:

I think the testing ban went from one extreme to the other didnt it, two 4 day tests throughout the season would be fine. one after the first 4 flyaway races and another at mid season during an extended summer break would be fine, it would give teams a chance to sort themselves out if they'd made a duffer of a car like mclaren have.

Much as ive enjoyed seeing ferrari and mclaren struggling to get into qualy 2 and 3 its stupid that the sports two biggest teams should have already given up on their 2009 season before we've reached the half way mark, i was looking forward to 4 or 5 teams dicing for a win towards the latter half of the season but it looks like we're just going to end up with red bull and brawn ... makes a change from ferrai and mclaren but in reality its same old problem isnt it?

some in season testing should be allowed for safety's sake . It's not fair to ask the drivers to test massive changes to the car during a race weekend . Sutil was lucky that it was a side impact at silverstone and not a head on . 

Imo they should be allowed 4 days of  in season testing sessions . These should be used to test major upgrades . If a team has used up their 4 day's and want's make major changes to their car the upgrades should be banned . No major upgrades without at least 1 day to make sure the upgrade is safe . 

If things stay the way they are it's only a matter of time before someone get's seriously injured . Racing in unpredictable cars that the drivers are not used to could be catostrophic

I don't want to see anymore deaths in F1 . I don't want to see drivers being injured . They put themselves at enough risk for our entertainment as it is . When it comes to safety F1 should not be penny pinching . 

Sorry, but I don't see the distinction between a driver having a catastrophic failure in testing or in practice, in fact the medical facilities and marshalling are far better during the GP weekend than in testing!

If the car is going to fail, it would be safer during testing than it would be during racing.  In a race, the driver is going as fast as possible, with no let up, and is having to concentrate on other drivers as well as on his own car.  The driver and team are more concerned with the racing than the testing, so attention may be directed away from a possible problem with the car.

Also in a race, there are other drivers on the track.  If the car fails at the wrong time, other cars could be involved in an accident with the failed car, putting other drivers at risk.

I also think they should have some in-season testing.  Have 3 events lasting 2 days (Sat , Sun) but make it an event where people can pay to watch.  Have the full compliment of safety people and maybe require all the teams to attend.  Have it at a track that does not have an F1 race.

It would be a chance for fans to get to see more F1 cars and get close to them.

 

 

pedekay:

asanator:

wallace i:

twinkle_toes22:

I think the testing ban went from one extreme to the other didnt it, two 4 day tests throughout the season would be fine. one after the first 4 flyaway races and another at mid season during an extended summer break would be fine, it would give teams a chance to sort themselves out if they'd made a duffer of a car like mclaren have.

Much as ive enjoyed seeing ferrari and mclaren struggling to get into qualy 2 and 3 its stupid that the sports two biggest teams should have already given up on their 2009 season before we've reached the half way mark, i was looking forward to 4 or 5 teams dicing for a win towards the latter half of the season but it looks like we're just going to end up with red bull and brawn ... makes a change from ferrai and mclaren but in reality its same old problem isnt it?

some in season testing should be allowed for safety's sake . It's not fair to ask the drivers to test massive changes to the car during a race weekend . Sutil was lucky that it was a side impact at silverstone and not a head on . 

Imo they should be allowed 4 days of  in season testing sessions . These should be used to test major upgrades . If a team has used up their 4 day's and want's make major changes to their car the upgrades should be banned . No major upgrades without at least 1 day to make sure the upgrade is safe . 

If things stay the way they are it's only a matter of time before someone get's seriously injured . Racing in unpredictable cars that the drivers are not used to could be catostrophic

I don't want to see anymore deaths in F1 . I don't want to see drivers being injured . They put themselves at enough risk for our entertainment as it is . When it comes to safety F1 should not be penny pinching . 

Sorry, but I don't see the distinction between a driver having a catastrophic failure in testing or in practice, in fact the medical facilities and marshalling are far better during the GP weekend than in testing!

If the car is going to fail, it would be safer during testing than it would be during racing.  In a race, the driver is going as fast as possible, with no let up, and is having to concentrate on other drivers as well as on his own car.  The driver and team are more concerned with the racing than the testing, so attention may be directed away from a possible problem with the car.

Also in a race, there are other drivers on the track.  If the car fails at the wrong time, other cars could be involved in an accident with the failed car, putting other drivers at risk.

I disagree, there are other cars on track in testing and I was talking about the teams using the practice sessions as testing, not so much the race, either way, the medical facilities and marshalling etc. are far superior during the race weekend.  That is not to say I don't miss the in season testing, however it was a massive expense which the teams could no longer justify in the current financial climate.

wallace i:

twinkle_toes22:

I think the testing ban went from one extreme to the other didnt it, two 4 day tests throughout the season would be fine. one after the first 4 flyaway races and another at mid season during an extended summer break would be fine, it would give teams a chance to sort themselves out if they'd made a duffer of a car like mclaren have.

Much as ive enjoyed seeing ferrari and mclaren struggling to get into qualy 2 and 3 its stupid that the sports two biggest teams should have already given up on their 2009 season before we've reached the half way mark, i was looking forward to 4 or 5 teams dicing for a win towards the latter half of the season but it looks like we're just going to end up with red bull and brawn ... makes a change from ferrai and mclaren but in reality its same old problem isnt it?

some in season testing should be allowed for safety's sake . It's not fair to ask the drivers to test massive changes to the car during a race weekend . Sutil was lucky that it was a side impact at silverstone and not a head on . 

Imo they should be allowed 4 days of  in season testing sessions . These should be used to test major upgrades . If a team has used up their 4 day's and want's make major changes to their car the upgrades should be banned . No major upgrades without at least 1 day to make sure the upgrade is safe . 

If things stay the way they are it's only a matter of time before someone get's seriously injured . Racing in unpredictable cars that the drivers are not used to could be catostrophic

I don't want to see anymore deaths in F1 . I don't want to see drivers being injured . They put themselves at enough risk for our entertainment as it is . When it comes to safety F1 should not be penny pinching . 

I don't get this safety thing you guys are talking about. Surely its just as dangerous for the driver to have the accident in testing as it is for him to haver it during a race?

I do like the idea of 4 days of in season testing though. With the unfathomal blunders that Macca and Ferrari have made with their cars they and the rest of the teams should have a little in season time to fix, or try to fix their major problems