22/07/2015
NEWS STORY
As part of the sport's (misguided) attempts to reduce spending, it is understood there will be a dramatic reduction in the amount of testing available to teams next year.
Those halcyon days when most outfits employed a separate test team and might be in action on two different circuits, when teams were working at a variety of tracks, sometimes on different continents, both pre and in-season, must seem a distant memory.
Indeed, even 2014, when there were three pre-season tests - albeit, two of them in Bahrain - and subsequent outings in Barcelona, Silverstone and Abu Dhabi, must seem a long forgotten luxury compared to what will be available in 2016.
Whilst most of the rules remain the same, albeit the engine manufacturers having even less freedom to tweak their power units, it should not be forgotten that American outfit Haas joins the grid.
Nonetheless, the American team, like its rivals, will have just two four-day tests in which to prepare and no in-season tests. Yet the cash-eating development of minor aero upgrades will continue unabated
Both tests will take place in Barcelona, it is understood, the first beginning on 1 March, the second on 15 March.
The first race weekend, Australia, gets underway on Friday 1 April, which seems appropriate considering the amount of running some teams will have had.
Other than the fact that testing might be another way to attract fans - and bring in some money - the rules, in recent years, have allowed a number of upcoming drivers to make their F1 debuts.