Fernando Alonso claims the limited pre-season testing given to the drivers in Formula 1 is “unfair” and believes that the teams should now be allowed to utilise both their cars.
Except in 2022 when the latest ground effect cars were introduced, winter testing has shifted from comprising two four-day tests to a singular three-day schedule in Bahrain.
With the Sakhir circuit also hosting the season-opener since 2021, hosting testing a week in advance of the first race has been seen as a positive move on cost grounds.
But while the compact running caps the understanding the teams can gain on their new machines, the restricted mileage has proven to be demanding for rookies to adapt.
Although there are no newcomers on the 2024 grid, Alonso, who is entering his 21st season in F1, still contends that one-and-a-half days per driver is not sufficient.
“We have a very limited testing in Bahrain,” Alonso told selected media including Motorsport Week. “I’ve been thinking all winter about this, how unfair it is that we only have one day and a half to prepare [for] our championship.
“There is no other sport in the world with all the money involved and all the marketing and the good things that we say about Formula 1, and being closer and closer to the fans, I cannot understand why we don’t go to Bahrain for four days, which could be two and two for the drivers.
“If you go to three, which is an odd number, you cannot divide between the drivers. I don’t know why we don’t go with two cars, because we are in Bahrain, and we race there the following week.”
Alonso is not the first to raise concerns over the reduced winter testing, with Mercedes driver and GPDA director George Russell backing the Spaniard’s proposal last year.
“Personally speaking, I don’t think three days is enough, because you have got to remember from a driver’s perspective, that is one and a half days per driver,” Russell said.
“Could you imagine Rafael Nadal spending 12 weeks without hitting a ball and then going straight into the French Open with one and a half days of training? It just wouldn’t ever happen.
“I understand and recognise why we do that. I think three days with two cars would probably be a good place to be.”
