The relentless hunt for performance in Formula 1 drives teams to exploit every possible opportunity for development. This leads to comprehensive testing programmes at the racetrack, rig centres, wind tunnels and in simulation. Yet despite the abundance of testing tools now available, there is never enough time for engineers to investigate every test condition. So, to try and test as many scenarios as possible, teams are constantly pushing the boundaries of how much time they can test, and how efficient they can be whilst testing.
Track testing
This became apparent in the early-to-mid 2000s when F1 teams had grown to engineering armies with budgets that allowed them to spend over 80 days testing at the track per season. These test days took place in between race events as well as pre- and post-season, and would often involve running three cars simultaneously at two different circuits. This was only made possible by having a separate trackside team dedicated to testing, leaving the race team to focus on the race weekends.
At that time, the only limit to a team’s testing schedule was budget so teams spent as much money as they had available. This led to soaring costs, with some of the top teams spending around $400 million a year (compared to the current $135 million budget cap). So, in an attempt to control costs, the FIA started imposing restrictions.
Test mileage was first limited to 30,000km in 2008, which then reduced to 15,000km in 2009, when in-season testing was banned. Since then, pre-season testing has continually reduced and is now down to only three days, with several one day Pirelli tyre tests throughout the season.
Despite these restrictions, teams will still travel
