Jarno Trulli, a director of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association (GPDA) between 2001 and 2006, has hailed the improvements carried out at a number of circuits used for Formula One testing.

Drivers had long expressed their fears regarding safety during tests claiming that it was nowhere near the standard provided during Grand Prix weekends, even though drivers can - and do - crash heavily during test sessions. Indeed, with drivers trying out new components, set-ups and tyre compounds - the whole point of testing - incidents are highly likely.

Speaking at the launch of his team's 2007 contender, Trulli told reporters: "You cannot imagine the big step we have made in the last six months. A circuit like Jerez has made a huge, huge step on safety. Before they were really poor in all details, but now I feel much more comfortable.

"There are still some tracks that have to make a little effort in order to be safer," he added, just days before the first test session of the year gets underway, "but this is a great achievement by the GPDA, the teams and the FIA.

"Before there were no rules and you cannot imagine the situation that we were in. It was really, really bad. At the races everything is fine but at testing it really was a disaster."