In-season testing is another issue. Would it help the teams? I think it's marginal. Again, they all have 1st, 2nd & 3rd practice to try new parts.

With a test day, you can run all day long and do a lot of kilometres. That is only needed in pre-season testing when you have to check out a brand new car thoroughly from top to bottom.

During the season, you don't need to do such extensive, fundamental tests. You just need to check how upgraded parts are working on the car. A 2 hour practice session is more than enough for that. And the car is not in parc ferme conditions then. So if a part is hopeless in 1st practice, you can swap it out and put the old part back in again. Parc ferme only starts after qualification is over.

But whatever I've written so far is about what is good for developing the car (in the context of how newer teams can get better).

It is a totally different story if we are talking about reserve drivers. The bulk of the seat time they get is during pre-season testing. If they are lucky they get to drive in 1st practice. If they don't, it is so hard for them to remain race ready (if they have to step in to replace an injured race driver) because it has literally been months since that reserve driver has actually driven a car. And often that reserve driver is a rookie who doesn't have much experience. So it is doubly difficult.

IMO just on grounds of safety alone, reserve drivers should get unlimited seat time in a car that is over 2-3 years old with demo tyres. That doesn't give the team any advantage BUT it helps that driver become safer (which benefits everyone on the grid) and helps that driver develop. IMO the current rules are crazy from the point of view of reserve drivers.


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