Teams open to the return of in-season testing

On the occasion of the last Turkish Grand Prix, Jean Todt expressed his support for the return of private testing during the season: “For me, it’s a stupid decision to no longer have tests during the season. In the past, it was unreasonable to have unlimited tests during the season, but going from all to nothing is not the right measure. It doesn’t allow young drivers to test, it doesn’t give them the opportunity to gain experience in an F1, and I will make sure this situation changes in the future,” the Frenchman committed.

Despite the opposition that the FIA president faced at the time, it seems that a return of in-season testing was discussed within the Working Sports Group, with the main proposal being the holding of another young driver test session during the summer, in addition to the one that has been organized at the end of the season for several years: « We had a meeting in Silverstone about it » reveals Sam Michael, the technical director of the Williams team. « There hasn’t been a vote yet. All they’ve done is propose some ideas on what could potentially be done, which might include another young driver test during the season. It was just discussed. There was no agreement, vote, or anything else. Now that it’s been discussed, the teams will be able to discuss it internally and think about it. We haven’t done anything more than that. »

The opposition of the teams was primarily based on the fear of witnessing an inflation of costs, which Christian Horner explained quite well at the time: « The problem with testing is that as soon as you reintroduce it, you reintroduce the test teams and the costs go up. […] So, I think the balance we have with pre-season testing and young driver testing at the end of the season is the right one and is financially beneficial, not only for the big teams but also for the smaller ones. »

In the process, Jean Todt had argued that the increase in costs could not be cited to justify not returning to in-season testing: « We cannot return to unlimited testing, but teams now have simulation tools in their factories, so we cannot talk about cost reduction for large teams.»

Today, the teams seem to have fewer reservations on the subject, Sam Michael even stating that it’s the kind of thing that can be sorted out in an afternoon if needed. The Briton also acknowledges that the current context is more conducive to this discussion than it was two months ago, when the teams had much more urgent issues to address: It was far from being at the top of our priority list, which was then focused on the V6 and the exhausts.