Carlos Sainz would like to drive for longer during winter testing to be better prepared

The season kicked off with the Bahrain Grand Prix, which took place last Sunday, after three days of winter testing at the Sakhir circuit the previous week. It was the second time in three years that teams had three days to prepare for the first race. In a context where F1 is seeking to cut costs to make it more accessible for small-budget teams, this represents only a day and a half of preparation testing per driver. The only exception was the 2022 season, where two three-day tests were held with fully modified cars following significant changes to the technical regulations.

The teams are only allowed to have one car running during the tests. Consequently, the drivers must share and can quickly be limited to only driving two half-days in case of an accident or mechanical issue. Carlos Sainz believes that it is too little to be prepared, both physically and in terms of the car’s reliability.

« The chosen time doesn’t bother me. It’s more the fact that it lasts more than a day and a half. Who decides? Why? I understand the cost associated with it, but driving a car on the track for a driver is fundamental for their physical fitness, understanding of the car, and car reliability. It takes more than that. So I hope we will have more in the future. »

The centrifugal force experienced by the drivers is almost impossible to replicate during training. Indeed, the neck muscles are laterally triggered on multiple axes simultaneously during a turn, and many other factors come into play. We witnessed Nyck de Vries in Italy during the replacement he made being completely exhausted at the end of his Grand Prix, not even being able to get out of the car on his own anymore. However, the reserve driver, who was with Mercedes at the time, had impeccable physical condition.

Leclerc’s withdrawal was due to a lack of preparation time.

Sainz’s concerns were justified on Sunday in Sakhir, when his teammate Charles Leclerc had to withdraw from the race due to an engine failure. This event may be the result of a lack of time to properly prepare the driver and his car.

Furthermore, the team manager, Frédéric Vasseur, revealed after the race that Ferrari had never encountered the issue that forced Leclerc to retire during the Bahrain Grand Prix. « We did not face the same problem at all during the six or seven thousand kilometers we covered with the engines last week. And we never had the same issue throughout the winter. ».

However, it should be noted that in the past, the number of races per season was much lower, usually around 16 or 17 races per year. The winter break was then longer, requiring more testing sessions to get back into the swing of things. With 23 races scheduled for 2023, the winter break is now only 10 weeks long.