F1 Test Limitations
Private testing in F1 has been banned since 2009. For over 15 years, fans have gotten used to seeing cars on track outside of a normal race weekend less and less frequently, and, by the way, only during the (few) pre-season test days explicitly organized by the entities that govern the World Championship. The era when fans could go to Fiorano on any given weekday and have a high chance of seeing Michael Schumacher driving on the circuit just a few hundred meters from the Maranello factory is now a distant memory. However, it seems that now the drivers themselves may be asking for a partial return to the past…
Carlos Sainz, who recently took over from Sebastian Vettel as one of the directors of the GPDA, the F1 drivers’ association, talked about this. The Spanish driver, who this year drives for Williams – and who was the fastest during the three-day Bahrain test, setting the best time on day 2 – has publicly proposed reviewing the limitations on private testing in F1.
F1 Testing: What’s Allowed and What’s Not
With the current season’s cars, in addition to the collective tests, which have been held in Bahrain since 2021, teams have the option of two filming days, each with a limit of 200 km (up until 2024, the limit was 100 km), originally intended for recording promotional footage. However, it is now increasingly clear that these filming days are also used, primarily, to put the cars on track early in the year to check that everything is functioning properly. This workaround comes with clear limitations, not just regarding the mileage limit: using “race” tires is prohibited, with Pirelli typically providing tires of a rather hard compound specifically designed for such showcases.
Recently, the possibility of holding actual demonstrations to celebrate an anniversary with fans and enthusiasts has been added. But even in this case, the limitations are clear: a maximum of 15 km for current cars, 50 km for those from previous seasons.
Additionally, teams can organize 20 days per year of TPC (Testing Previous Cars) with cars that are at least two years old. However, while there is no mileage limit for reserve drivers and test drivers (as long as the 20-day limit is not exceeded), regular drivers have a maximum of four days and 1,000 km available.
This is a choice made to avoid limiting opportunities for young talents to get on track and gain experience with an F1 car – for example, Andrea Kimi Antonelli is said to have completed over 9,000 km with the old Mercedes cars in 2024 – but also to avoid giving too many advantages to regular drivers, essentially reintroducing private testing.
Carlos Sainz’s Proposal
And this is exactly the proposal put forward by Carlos Sainz: “I had a lot of time to think about it this winter. I was at home for a few days and had the idea. I’m now 30 years old with ten years of F1 experience, so I’ve started to understand how this sport works. Not just in terms of driving, but also in terms of the connections between the FIA and the FOM, and I thought about how I could contribute with my experience. One example is testing… Many teams spend a lot of money on their cutting-edge simulators and ask their drivers to use them, but they might have to fly to England from wherever they are in the world.”
“I don’t understand why we only have three days of testing. It’s nice to have a collective test, and I think that can continue, but my suggestion is to include private test days in the budget cap. That way, a team could decide how to spend its money, whether on track tests or on the simulator,” Carlos Sainz concluded regarding the excessive limitations on F1 testing.
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