Sainz urges F1 to change: '1 day and a half and now I need to go racing...'
F1 News
Three days of winter testing divided into 6 four hour sessions, of which each driver will only do three. That's how much testing times drivers got in their new F1 cars ahead of the 2025 season start in Melbourner in two weeks, and Carlos Sainz has an issue with that.
This year there will also be a large amount of rookies who will either be making their debut, or doing their first full season in F1. The youngsters complained about having such little time in the cars before going racing for the first time in 2025, something veteran Sainz can relate to all too well.
Sainz 'makes first proposal' as GPDA co-director
"[I'm] understanding a bit their frustration with testing because even though I'm obviously no rookie, day and a half of testing, I think, is frustrating for me too," said the new Williams driver to select media including GPblog. Something teams have been trying to take advantage of is running as many TPC sessions as the can, which according to Sainz helps a lot but: "Experience is experience, and you only gain that on track with a real car that you're going to drive that year."
"I think F1, if I'm honest, could do a bit of an effort in trying to do a better job in how we go testing," said the recently appointed GPDA co-director, adding that the money being spent by teams on "not as good" simulators and simulator sessions, when those funds could serve to increase the number of testing days, is unfathomable to him.
"I'm not asking for too much. Eight, ten days where everyone picks their places to test. It's nice to have a collective test. I think this should stay. But my proposal would be to have put in the budget cap the number of days, put in the budget cap the simulator also, and see where the teams want to spend their their money, if it's in the sim or it's in ten testing days. And, rookies would benefit."
Is Sainz ready for his Williams debut in Australia?
In the end, despite topping the second day of winter testing in Bahrain, conditions were never optimal and the time spent in the cars was far too little. "It feels weird that I got my day and a half, and now I need to go racing. It feels not enough, very little. Ridiculously little, the amount of time we get in our cars before going to a race. But as ready as I can be with a day and a half and this strange weather or bad rain. I guess we'll take it and see where we are," concluded a dejected Sainz.
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