09/11/2004
NEWS STORY
At today's meeting of the nine team bosses who put forward a voluntary proposal at the Brazilian Grand Prix, it was agreed that there would be a considerable reduction in testing during the 2005 season.
However, the previous decision to limit in-season testing to ten days has now been changed to twenty-four days. This constitutes a fifty-percent reduction to the current limit. It's understood that the teams hope to introduce the ten-day limit in 2006.
The teams also agreed to allow the introduction of a 'control tyre' though this also is unlikely to appear until 2006.
Ferrari was not represented at the meeting, with team boss Jean Todt branding the original proposal as naive and unworkable. It's not known how Ferrari will react to the decision that the number of test days has been raised to twenty-four.
Ferrari is not bound to accept the decision regarding the test limit, however the Italian outfit is clearly being pushed further and further into a corner. On the other hand, it would have to accept the introduction of the 'control' tyre in 2006.