Rookie Days: McLaren prefers to go to Abu Dhabi

The tests for young drivers have been taking place for two years at the end of the year on the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi, but things could change this year. Indeed, with a busier calendar than usual, a possible relocation of these tests to Silverstone during the season has been mentioned, in mid-July just after the British Grand Prix held at Silverstone.

Red Bull and Toro Rosso should stick to what was planned and go to Abu Dhabi. Other teams might follow, as after Eric Boullier’s statements, who is not in favor of holding these tests at Silverstone, it’s now Sam Michael’s turn, McLaren’s sporting director, to declare a preference for going to Abu Dhabi rather than Silverstone for these tests.

Yesterday, during the FIA press conference, Giorgio Ascanelli, the technical director of the Toro Rosso team, reaffirmed that Silverstone was not the solution chosen by Toro Rosso beforehand: « We had planned our resources for 15 days of testing and were counting on the fact that the testing for young drivers would take place at the end of the year, and on the fact that we could use the remaining mileage on our engines that have been raced, so a second testing session during the season (after Mugello) is not what was planned, for us, it’s half a million. We don’t have it. »

Adrian Newey, Red Bull Racing’s technical director, was also present and according to him, it is not a good thing to want to move these tests mid-season, for F1 and for young drivers: «To be honest, I think if you go back to the essence of what these tests should be for us, which is to test young drivers, you have to consider: is it better to evaluate new young talents mid-season or at the end of the season. Personally, I would lean more towards the end of the season because they are no longer in their championships, they’re done, you can see what they’ve done, they have more experience. Putting them in a Formula 1 car mid-season, then sending them back to their championships again and telling them to wait another eight months before driving again – I’m not sure of the benefit.

Sam Michael shares the same opinion as Giorgio Ascanelli regarding the use of engines, specifically: « Our plan at McLaren for the moment is to conduct these tests in Abu Dhabi. We will not be testing at Silverstone for all these reasons. The engine is an important factor, as Giorgio said. If you want to conduct these tests at the end of the year, you have so many engines available that they all have a bit of mileage left, so you can do it for free concerning the race engines. If you try to conduct these tests mid-season, you cannot use your race engines, so you have to prepare an engine specifically for these tests. »

The sporting director of McLaren also believes that disrupting the smooth running of the championships for young drivers who might test during these sessions is not a good thing: « And the point raised by Adrian (Newey) is important as well, I think, because if you try to do this during the year and test your young drivers, then you have them drive in the middle of their championships, whereas if you do it at the end of the year, they have finished their F3, F2 championships or whatever they are doing and they have the ability to fully focus on their F1 testing. »

But not all teams are convinced by these arguments, especially Sauber, as Pierre Wache, head of car performance at the Swiss team, admitted: «For us, it’s quite different. The best compromise in terms of costs would be to conduct these tests at Silverstone for many reasons: logistical and financial. It would be better to conduct these tests at Silverstone.»

This viewpoint was also shared, at yesterday’s press conference, by Mark Smith, the technical director of the Caterham F1 team: «For us it’s the same thing: from a logistical and financial standpoint, Silverstone is the best option for us.»

For the moment, if some prefer Silverstone to Abu Dhabi, or vice versa, nothing is completely set in stone, as Paul Hembery, head of competition at Pirelli, disclosed: To be honest, officially, we have only received indications from the teams that will race in Abu Dhabi. We have had no indication about Silverstone for now, although verbally we have had discussions, so we would like to know if (the tests in) Silverstone will take place or not.