Fernando Alonso says he “cannot understand” why Formula 1 allows just three days of pre-season testing before the start of the new season.
Teams and drivers will have just a single, three-day test in Bahrain starting tomorrow before the first race of the season. It is the third time in the last four years pre-season testing has been restricted so tightly.
With each team allowed to run just a single car through the test, teams typically share driving duties between their two drivers, with both either having one full day of running each before splitting a third day, or splitting each day between both drivers.
Alonso, Formula 1’s most experienced driver ever, believe this is insufficient time for a world championship-level competition.
“We have very limited testing in Bahrain,” Alonso said. “I can say now, because I’ve been thinking all winter about this, how unfair it is that we only have a day-and-a-half to prepare for our championship.
“There is no other sport in the world – with all the money involved and with all the marketing and the good things that we say about Formula 1 and being closer to the fans – I cannot understand why we don’t go to Bahrain for four days, which could be two and two for the drivers. If you go to three, which is an odd number, you cannot divide between the drivers.”
Teams are also limited to running just one car during the pre-season test. “I don’t know why we don’t go with two cars, because we are already in Bahrain and we race the following week,” Alonso added.
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The 2024 F1 calendar is the longest in history. There are 24 grands prix from the start of March in Bahrain to the final round in Abu Dhabi in early December.
Red Bull driver Sergio Perez believes it is simply not possible to fit in any more tests.
“There’s no time,” Perez said. “We have 24 races. The calendar is already brutal, so there’s no time for more testing.
“It’s too many. We know that it’s too many races. It’s going to be a brutal calendar for all of us involved in the sport. That’s why it’s important that we are able to manage our energy levels as best as possible.”
Perez believes a lighter and more curated calendar of racing would be preferable to this year’s 24-round marathon.
“I think 20 races would be great, keeping up the quality instead of the quantity,” Perez said. “But that’s not for me to decide.”
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