I agree that there should be more testing, but carefully limited and scheduled to be cost affective from a travelling/logistics point of view. Hold it on the Monday after a GP every 4 or 5 events or something.
I'd like to see testing FIA controlled to a degree, a select number of drivers chosen from lower formula (with results to deserve such) to be given test drives. Say give teams 2 test days for their main drivers and then up to 'n' more if they chose a driver from the FIAs talent pool, or whatever they call it. It'll screw over the test drivers perhaps but they hardly have a good deal now, unless of course they are loaded.
Honda were never going to be on the money this season. If they're consistently getting both cars into the points by the end of the season then they're pretty much on par for their first season I'd say. I don't think a return of testing is necessary, but free engine development and more power units for the season is an absolute must. Cost cutting measures should be to remove unnecessary waste, using five engines for 100 grand prix sessions isn't excessive, so why they've capped it at four for the season is beyond me. Edit: I think the most cost--effective way to re-introduce testing would be to allow teams to run a third car on Fridays just for development, like they used to in the mid-2000s.
If we had a full grid I'd say that a 3rd car for each team would be too many on track. At the moment however it could probably work, though only the top teams would be able to afford it probably.
WEC manages it and it worked in the past. Any return of testing is going to favour the richer teams, Sauber and Manor don't bring any upgrades anyway so there'd be no point in them bringing a third car. I'm guessing teams like Force India would find a way, it wouldn't cost a huge amount to build a third chassis and they could probably offset most of that with a pay driver. It's the development parts which would be expensive, but if they're going to be bringing them anyway they might as well have them properly tested. Engine manufacturers might subsidise some of it too, paying a smaller team to run some engine development so the works team can focus on aero. I doubt anyone would ever take a third car to Monaco unless it was for young driver development.
The fairest way is the Monday after the race. The problem with Friday's is certain teams could gain advantage for the race weekend. As Westy has stated, the kit and support structure is already at the circuit - it is the most logical way.
I think any advantage would be fairly limited, they can usually gather all they need with just the two cars. Monday's is OK depending on how often you want testing to happen, it's wouldn't be possible after every race because it would be a tight turnaround with back-to-back races. If you only think there should be a handful of sessions then that's fine, and is pretty much what we have now. The other advantage of Friday is that it forces teams to use a non-racing driver (this is how Vettel got his break for example). I don't really like BLS's suggestion of selecting drivers only from a talent pool, it just seems gimmicky to me, in my opinion tests should be unrestricted or they shouldn't happen at all.
Due to McHonda being very diplomatic in interviews etc, does anyone know whether the problems are solely down to the power unit or have McLaren tried to be too aggressive on chassis/cooling etc which is causing the power unit to break more?
McLaren's packaging is certainly aggressive, but you'd have to presume they're working within the operational parameters laid down by Honda. So had McLaren been more conservative it would have helped, but you'd still think it's Honda's responsibility to make sure they're achieving what they said they would. Equally, I wonder how much McLaren have eased their packaging, we saw some fairly radical vents cut into bodywork early last season.
Always sounds like driveability is a big issue, more so in low speed corners and actually accelerating. Top speeds aren't the big problem from the data we see?
McLaren can't really throw Honda under the bus though, if Honda left them they'd go the way of Williams, they'd lose works status and their budget would be severely reduced. If the boot was on the other foot, and McLaren were letting the side down, I think Honda would be quite outspoken about it, because they could afford to be.
Really, mclaren MUST pie Honda in the face, they don't stand a hope of competing in the next 2/3 years, and that's if the rules stayed the same.
This is horrific from Honda. Formula 1 cannot go on giving teams a winter to hone their car for a season when these engines need thousands of miles of testing to refine them. It will only get worse as the development becomes even more limited. What a state of affairs we have in what should be the most competitive and entertaining motorsport on the planet.
I really don't get it. It was said that Honda have dialled the power DOWN to Melbourne levels even thought these were new engines! I thought they would have fixed at least some of the issues that makes them reduce power. This really is getting silly. While I understand that costs need to be kept down otherwise their will only be 2 or 3 teams racing the FIA must do something to 'equalise' power between engines.
My suggestion to the McHonda PR team is to just shut up. They are only heaping more and more pressure on themselves and looking more and more stupid in the process with all their bullish "Good times are coming, we're aiming for Podiums soon" etc etc. As it is, it's irrelevant even if they perform that miracle and unleash a car faster then Mercedes, A) it probably wouldn't finish and B), if it did, by the time they had added all the time penalties for fitting new parts, they'd probably still be trying to complete the race next time out. What is stopping Honda bolting the engine into an NSX/prototype and pounding it round suzuka? What are they doing on the dyno when the engine still sounds like it is running on nails in slow corners? Mapping is something they can do 24/7 365 days a year. McLaren have made big progress though, the problem is other teams make progress too, so effectively McLaren can find half a second a week and most weeks only end up 1 tenth closer to where they want to be right now.
Unfortunately, if the PR people shut up, they won't have a job so they'll just keep on spinning no matter what. To this end, I have a suggestion and it's the only positive thing I can think of that emerges from McLaren's woeful predicament: why don't they start spinning that they're doing the sport a favour as those smaller, poorer teams who are normally behind them will get a financial boost this year from a larger share of the winnings? It could be the difference between advancing or slipping further back, surviving or going under: Sauber, Lotus and Force India, you owe them one!
Partly because they are running no downforce though and most the speed traps are in DRS zones, so they have even less than that! And even then they are slowest and take an age to get up there. Some of that is driveability though as you point out, it's clear to the ear that their ERS isn't working right and isn't spinning the turbo up at the right time or fast enough. Something really bugs me with the sound of their car, it sounds to my non expert ear like they aren't running any ERS at all, it sounds more like they are running a traditional anti-lag like you hear on WRC cars. Interestingly, such a set up would make the car excessively thirsty (which we have seen), and make the car approximately 150bhp down (which is roughly what the figures suggest). In real terms, they are 25-30mph down on every straight. They are dog slow right now. In fact they could probably strap a West Highland Terrier into the back of their car and still accelerate faster.
