Nick Says More Races and Less Testing?

That’s what Nick Heidfeld would like to see. I tend to agree and I think they could manage it. Let’s face it, there are plenty of sports that have more grueling competition schedules all over the world and without problem at all.

Formula 1 has races every 2 weeks for the most part with 16 official test sessions starting in January through to December with 8 3 day sessions within the race calendar adding up to 24 test days during the season. In my opinion this test schedule is a huge contributing factor to the ‘burnout’ teams are suffering, but continues to be a sticking point with teams like Ferrari who of course have their own test track and money to burn. We see rule changes and cost cutting measures almost every year in F1 with teams complaining time and time again, but ultimately adapting to them quite well so why not eliminate at least 2 of the test sessions (6 days) during the race season and instead add a couple of new races to the calendar without eliminating any.

Eliminating test sessions would free up time and cut team costs which of course is always on the mind of Max Mosley. What could happen to fill this space? 2 extra races of course, which is really the most important part of the season to the fans and isn’t that what it’s all about?

The season would be longer, but as I said earlier, it’s not the most grueling schedule going.