Brawn dubious about testing cutback

One of the FIA's proposed regulation changes for 2008 is cutting back on the amount of private testing that is permitted. The idea has been met with mixed reactions and is yet to be decided, but Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn believes finding alternative methods of testing off-track would be just as expensive.

Michael Schumacher and Ross Brawn.

Photo by Ferrari Media Center.

"You have got to be careful you don't just distort the whole thing and do the same work some other way," said Brawn, according to Autosport. "We test because we have the funds to do it and it is the most efficient way for us to develop the car."

"If you stop us going to the circuit then we will test at the factory and any way we can dream of. So, I don't know if reducing testing is a solution."

Brawn went on to point out that testing is not compulsory and its up to the teams how much they do. That may be true, but for some teams it's not a matter of choice, it's a matter of simply not being able to afford to test as extensively as others.

In some cases, people think it's plain daft to spend so much time on the test track: "It makes no sense to test twice or three times as much as much as we race," said Renault boss Flavio Briatore.

The intention to have only one tyre manufacturer in the future, which the teams agreed to, will help reduce the amount of testing, as well as having other benefits.

"There was no question that all of the teams recognised that if we had a single tyre supplier it would be far less expensive, because of testing," said FIA president Max Mosley after Tuesday's meeting in regard to the proposals.