Formula One has changed beyond all recognition over the past quarter of a century some of which was influenced by the Ferrari dominance between 1999-2004. Around there turn of the millennium in season testing was unlimited as were the number of engines a driver could use each season.

Such was the race to be the best that teams designed qualifying engines with almost zero lubricants. The performance of the quality engines was significantly superior to those used during racing but they were fragile usually completing less than a hundred kilometres, before they were binned.

In an attempt to level the playing field for teams who did not have unlimited engine budgets these power units were banned by the FIA . Yet a version of the qualifying engine emerged again during the 2020 season, where teams would run a high performance mode of the power unit just for qualifying – these were called party modes – and again they were outlawed.

 

 

 

Hamilton 7714 km of pre-F1 testing

Testing too was unlimited when Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg came into the sport. In preparation for his debut F1 season, the seven times world champion completed 7714km of testing before he drove in his first Grand Prix and most Wednesdays during the season there would be a number of cars one track at Silverstone either proving rookies or measuring performance gains from upgrades.

Again the bigger teams had an advantage because they could afford practically unlimited testing whilst those less well off were significantly limited by the amount of testing they could do.

So in season testing of the current cars was banned by the FIA but as a side product of this efficiency saving, rookie drivers then got very little testing and not in the current versions of the team’s car.

In an attempt to improve opportunity for rookie drivers, the FIA’s sporting regulations for 2022 contained the following provision in Article 32.4 c) which compels teams to run “a driver who has not participated in more than two championship races in their career” at least twice during the season – one for each car in a team. Yet this too has proven to have flaws.

Red Bull’s new bendy wing to restore advantage

 

 

 

Rookies now get FP1 scraps 

Jack Doohan was scheduled to drive in Esteban Ocon’s Alpine in FP1 at this year’s Canadian Grand Prix. Yet a wet session meant the team refused to risk the car being crashed and so the Australian was given just two laps around the Gilles Villeneuve circuit before handing the car back to its full time driver.

Doohan was again scheduled to run in FP1 at Silverstone and this time he managed 22 laps before the car was returned to Pierre Gasly for the second practice session.

F1 teams are risk averse and this has seen fewer and fewer rookies come into the sport in recent years, although for next year there are two new drivers to F1 confirmed in Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) and Oliver Bearman (Haas F1) together with a promise from Dr. Helmut Marko that Liam Lawson will be given his first full time driver.

Williams were once a reliable team to blood some rich kid F1 drivers but the arrival of James Vowles at the team has seen them decided experienced drivers in Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz are the best for their future.

Norris: I helped Piastri to win

 

 

 

Sprint race for rookies

A number of the rookie drivers joining in recent years have not won their respective junior formula but do have rich family members or sponsors which have sent hem promoted ahead of their talent. Nicholas Latiffi, Logan Sargeant, Yuki Tsunoda and Zhou Guangu all fit this category one way or another.

Now the teams appear to have agreed to allow their rookie drivers to race each other in a current F1 cars. RacingNews365 now reports all parties were close to an agreement in Azerbaijan on making this happen and a rough framework is being drawn up.

A Sprint race for the rookies will be held on the Tuesday after the season finale in Abu Dhabi and will start at the same time as the Grand Prix two days before.

The first of the day will continue as the traditional post season test, so the likes of Carlos Sainz can for the first time sit behin=d the wheel of this year’s Williams car – and discover how disappointing it is when compared to his Ferrari SF-24.

Verstappen admits Perez was better than him

 

 

 

Two Sprint weekends for F1 juniors 

There will then be a qualifying session, but the disappointing detail is each team will field just one rookie driver and one car. Questions remain about who will foot the bill for the additional costs of holding the race and broadcasters are yet to commit to televising the event and provide the appropriate publicity for potential F1 drivers of the future.

TJ13 has advocated previously, that maybe the FIA should agree to increasing the number of Sprint weekends by two. But at these it should be the team’s rookie drivers who compete in the event.

Of course the usual objections will be made that the cost of rebuilding a heavily crashed car by a rookie should not fall on the teams for this experiment. Further a team may have to use a valuable joker to breach the evening curfew rules should their junior put the car in the wall and create an entire night of work for the engineers.

Ricciardo mid season sacking

 

 

 

Teams now better off – allow 3 in season junior test days

Another potential opportunity for drivers to gain experience behind the wheel of an F1 car would be if the teams were allowed a limited number of in season testing days at the current F1 circuit closest to where their base is located.

F1 teams are not as strapped for cash as they once were and three in season testing days would be affordable to most. Formula One must address the issue of its young driver ladder, which in recent years has not been working.

In the five seasons from and including 2020, just Mick Schumacher and Oscar Piastri have made it into F1 as champions of the FIA’s internal F2 competition.

Leclerc outlines why he’s a ‘loser’

 

 

 

Horner rounds on McLaren “confusion”

Oscar Piastri has now won his first Formula One race completely on merit. His move to overtake Charles Leclerc after stopping for fresh tyres proved to be the deciding factor between him and the Monegasque driver.

The overtake into turn one caught the Ferrari driver who was leading the race by surprise and Piastri later admitted when he arrived at the apex of the corner he felt as though he was heading for the wall. Yet as TV images showed, the Aussie applied some opposite lock to control a rear end slide and made the turn just millimetres from hitting the barrier.

Piastri’s previous and maiden win in F1 was overshadowed by a ten lap long debate over team radio as to whether Lado Norris should hand his team mate the lead of the race having inherited it due to pit stop procedures and the undercut… READ MORE