Thursday, September 2, 2010

In-season testing in F1 promotes copy-paste technology than innovation

Martin Whitmarsh, team boss of Mclaren F1 recently stated that he wished in-season testing are back in F1

During the team meeting last week, that decided extra days for winter testing to get acclimatised to tyres from Pirelli, Mclaren along with Ferrari and Mercedes team managers pressed on proposal for re-introducing of in-season testing.

In-season is of great help for teams who can test upgrades and run it error free during races without much loss of time.

However, it was banned by FIA, as a cost cutting measure.

It's basic motive, however, was to support the smaller teams, who were forced to infuse more funds in to development, to catch up the lost ground to bigger teams, as the season progressed.

Also, not every team has the budget to conduct the cost involved in mid-season testing, hence some are forced to source more funds or sit out losing on important data.

All this indirectly increases the overall cost of these teams beyond their limited budget, which could become detrimental in the long run for it's survival in formula one.

We have witnessed many a smaller teams come and go, as the cost involved were huge to sustain even a single season with expenses over and above than what they could afford.

Further, Formula One is all about technology and innovation, but we don't need copy paste technology, and in-season testing majorly promotes this approach.

The last two season saw top teams doing catching up game against teams who had innovative designs (Red Bull Exhaust), and others who smartly used the loopholes in the design rules (Brawn GP Double Diffuser).

It took Ferrari three grand prix to get their Red Bull like diffuser working this season, McLaren are still struggling, while a team with much lower budget viz., Williams F1 team took just one race to get it up and running.

With every race gone the championship challenge gets tougher for teams who are slower in catching up, which puts more pressure on them and their technical crew.

With in-season testing allowed once again, this problem and the niggles associated with upgrades would be ironed out faster. Job becomes easier for the technical team as money makes things move.

Thus teams who have more funds can negate their technical inabilities by bringing various upgrades of an innovative design of rival team and vigourously test to fine tune and get it working quick without much labour.

This hits the smaller team harder, and we cannot expect them to survive in such conditions.

Who wouldn't want a repeat of Brawn GP, a Force India to fight with the likes of Ferrari, McLaren for title etc., and who wouldn't want an independent team like Williams F1 to get to winning ways again?

Thus, the current ban on in-season testing is the best thing to happen to smaller teams.

The teams with the best technical brains at work, who may not necessarily be working at one of the big teams, would give their best shot during off-season to come up with the best solution, gaining an upperhand early.

This would not only brings more excitement to formula one racing, but gives more confidence in sponsors to back smaller teams, that helps these teams sustain much longer in formula one.

No comments:

Post a Comment