Barrichello - extra track time allowed for rookies

[RonJohnson]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/98683

‘Rubens Barrichello will be entitled to the extra track time allowed for rookies at some IndyCar rounds…………. he will be able to participate in the opening half hour of practice on most road and street courses, which is reserved for newcomers and drivers outside the top 10 in the championship, and gets the additional set of tyres permitted for rookies.’

Leaving Indy Car and Rubens aside for the moment, would a similar scheme work in Formula 1?

Could allowing rookie drivers/the bottom x number of teams/drivers a little extra time help bring the field together and reduce the potential conflict between the quicker and slower cars in practice and qualifying?

Taking it to an extreme, could you allow any car to run for the extra time if it had a rookie/reserve driver in place? e.g. Ferrari run extra time with an Italian whippersnapper? The benefits would be extra in season testing without great expense, more for fans to see, and more mileage for inexperienced drivers.

No doubt there would be a downside which I haven’t considered.

[Rude-boy]

RonJohnson said:

No doubt there would be a downside which I haven’t considered.

Bernie no likey.

[Jungles]

Personally, I think FP1 should be reserved for official 3rd drivers and one-off testers.

They could just rename the sessions: Test Practice, Free Practice 1, Free Practice 2. Drop FP3 and may the best setter-upperers win!

[groomi]

Jungles said:

Personally, I think FP1 should be reserved for official 3rd drivers and one-off testers.

They could just rename the sessions: Test Practice, Free Practice 1, Free Practice 2.

That sounds sensible. It gives the teams an opportunity to do a little testing and enables the regular test driver to keep their eye in ready for if they get an opportunity to race.

But you can guarantee, the teams that need it most (ie the slowest ones) will simply field the latest Malaysian/Indian/Chinese no-hoper with a huge wallet just to get some extra cash...

[A911DOM]

What about the mileage on the already stretched F1 engines.

Unless the team are allowed a 3rd car and therefore another set of engines they arent likely to want the extra mileage with purely a rookie out getting some circuit time I wouldnt have thought!?

[slipstream 1985]

A911DOM said:

What about the mileage on the already stretched F1 engines.

Unless the team are allowed a 3rd car and therefore another set of engines they arent likely to want the extra mileage with purely a rookie out getting some circuit time I wouldnt have thought!?

sponsorship/development/set up/ time vs componet usage. seems fair to me

[daftandyboy555]

A911DOM said:

What about the mileage on the already stretched F1 engines.

Would an extra practice session really put that much mileage on that it would cause issues?

Over the last few seasons, there's been very few engine failures, compared to that of years gone by.

[Alfa numeric]

Jungles said:

Personally, I think FP1 should be reserved for official 3rd drivers and one-off testers.

They could just rename the sessions: Test Practice, Free Practice 1, Free Practice 2. Drop FP3 and may the best setter-upperers win!

Sounds like a good idea but as is said above they may need a third chassis. Wasn't it DiResta whose weekend was scuppered when the third driver crashed his race car during a Friday session?

[Jungles]

It would be a rare occurance - most rookies are competent enough not to obliterate a car. The teams will just have to make sure they get good drivers instead of mere cash cows.