Practice sessions
Discussion
remember the good old days when F1 had loads of test sessions...New parts could be tried, setup changes that may not be legal.
I keep thinking it'd be good to have free practice back rather than qualifying practice which means all the cars must be 100% legal all the time. Do we think there would be any appetite from teams if they could opt out of the qualifying aspect of practice?
I keep thinking it'd be good to have free practice back rather than qualifying practice which means all the cars must be 100% legal all the time. Do we think there would be any appetite from teams if they could opt out of the qualifying aspect of practice?
Not sure what you are referring to?
On a normal (non sprint) weekend they have 3 free practice sessions where they can run how they like, which is why you see aero rakes and other equipment on the cars. They don't tend to run illegally as that would be counterproductive and use up the valuable time they have to test for the race.
If you mean testing outside the GP weekend then yes that is restricted due to cost as it favoured the teams with the biggest budget as they could test all the time.
On a normal (non sprint) weekend they have 3 free practice sessions where they can run how they like, which is why you see aero rakes and other equipment on the cars. They don't tend to run illegally as that would be counterproductive and use up the valuable time they have to test for the race.
If you mean testing outside the GP weekend then yes that is restricted due to cost as it favoured the teams with the biggest budget as they could test all the time.
andburg said:
My understanding was free practice wasn't really free as if they don't run qualifying for whatever reason "free" practice can be used to set the grid.
We don't have testing anymore, so free practise is the only time they can set up the cars. There is no luxury of testing new, fancy equipment, this has been the case for years. Pre-season testing is for that, and even then, it is limited.Siao said:
andburg said:
My understanding was free practice wasn't really free as if they don't run qualifying for whatever reason "free" practice can be used to set the grid.
We don't have testing anymore, so free practise is the only time they can set up the cars. There is no luxury of testing new, fancy equipment, this has been the case for years. Pre-season testing is for that, and even then, it is limited.i dont see why teams can't say "I'm running development parts in this session" and have their times excluded from use should practice time become qualifying
andburg said:
Siao said:
andburg said:
My understanding was free practice wasn't really free as if they don't run qualifying for whatever reason "free" practice can be used to set the grid.
We don't have testing anymore, so free practise is the only time they can set up the cars. There is no luxury of testing new, fancy equipment, this has been the case for years. Pre-season testing is for that, and even then, it is limited.i dont see why teams can't say "I'm running development parts in this session" and have their times excluded from use should practice time become qualifying
I see where you are coming from. I guess they could and then if for some reason free practice times were used to set the grid then they would be excluded from the results for being illegal. But as others have said then benefit vs losing setup time probably doesn't stack up.
We have seen cars running parts for the following season towards hen end of the year when they are either so far in front of their rivals or so far off the back it doesn't matter but generally these are still within the reguslations.
We have seen cars running parts for the following season towards hen end of the year when they are either so far in front of their rivals or so far off the back it doesn't matter but generally these are still within the reguslations.
andburg said:
i dont see why teams can't say "I'm running development parts in this session" and have their times excluded from use should practice time become qualifying
The days when teams would rock up with a gear box made of unobtainium or whatever have long gone. We hear commentators and drivers and teams talking of 'upgrades' but in reality, they are tweaks to the existing design. There is not the regulatory or financial room to try wild new things and certainly nothing that has not yet been deemed permissible under the regulations. So I don't really see the need for your idea.
What you (and I!) really would like is a few test days throughout the year. Tyre Testing, they used to call it. Last one I went to was 2005 at Silverstone on a Wednesday. All the teams and about 5,000 spectators were there. I recall there being a charity bucket at the gate but otherwise free entry.
StevieBee said:
andburg said:
i dont see why teams can't say "I'm running development parts in this session" and have their times excluded from use should practice time become qualifying
The days when teams would rock up with a gear box made of unobtainium or whatever have long gone. We hear commentators and drivers and teams talking of 'upgrades' but in reality, they are tweaks to the existing design. There is not the regulatory or financial room to try wild new things and certainly nothing that has not yet been deemed permissible under the regulations. So I don't really see the need for your idea.
What you (and I!) really would like is a few test days throughout the year. Tyre Testing, they used to call it. Last one I went to was 2005 at Silverstone on a Wednesday. All the teams and about 5,000 spectators were there. I recall there being a charity bucket at the gate but otherwise free entry.
Well done FIA
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