This season, other than the two pre-season tests and the final test in Abu Dhabi, there will be two in-season tests.

At a time the sport is seeking to spice up the action while reducing spending, it seems hard to believe that just a few short years ago money was no object, teams running designated test units as they tried out a seemingly endless supply of new tyres and engines.

Indeed, at a time we remember the legendary Michael Schumacher, it is worth recalling that his title hopes were bolstered by the ability to bolt on a set of Bridgestones and rip around Fiorano for a hundred or so laps at the drop of a hat.

At one stage tests were held at tracks just a few days before the race, which naturally impacted the Sunday afternoon entertainment since the teams were so well prepared, Barcelona usually providing the biggest snooze-fest of the year.

With all this in mind, Ross Brawn is said to be considering banning teams from tyre testing during the Friday sessions and instead introducing a standard 'base' tyre with which to perform the initial set-up.

"The cars are completely reliable and they're completely optimised in terms of set-up, deployment around tyres or whatever," Williams technical boss Paddy Lowe tells Motorsport.com. "That means that the results you get are massively more predictable, to the point the major variable is the driver and mistakes he might make.

"But even there, drivers nowadays are completely fit," he adds, "so they don't even get tired like they used to, and they are well trained, coached. They don't make many mistakes. We need to throw stuff in, that stops the optimisation.

"Ross has talked about this, that you can't test any tyres on Friday, you have just a base tyre that's just to let you work with the car and learn the circuit. A few things like that. Then everything is thrown in as a lucky dip for you for the race. I think it’s great."

Admitting that thirty years ago "we came to the race with two engineers, now we have thirty- and another thirty back at the factory", he adds: "If you want to make it more valuable, you've got to prevent the optimization and allow for effectively more disturbance, more noise, which will come from external factors, that we couldn't optimise around.

"It will be good," he insists. "Because the other alternative is you get rid of the engineers by cost cap or reduce the operational staff level at the track. I am not trying to just make a lot of engineers redundant, they can do other things. I think Ross has realised (that optimisation is causing predictable races), that’s his own observation, and he has a project around that."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Editor, 07/01/2019 10:31

"@ Chris Roper

Random pills?

Those little blue ones could prove problematic in such tight confines."

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2. Posted by Chris Roper, 06/01/2019 21:12

">They don't make many mistakes. We need to throw stuff in, that stops the optimisation.

Rather than random drug tests FIA will be recommending random Doping. Whilst sitting on the grid each driver takes a random pill from a race official .........................."

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3. Posted by Steve W, 05/01/2019 11:23

"@ koko,

We already have that series. It's called IndyCar."

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4. Posted by B Harre., 04/01/2019 0:07

"F1 should have one tyre specification for the entire season ,and can use as many as they want for the race.That would save expensive one lap wonder tyres,and manufacture costs against multiple compounds and constructions. Bruce Harre."

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5. Posted by koko, 03/01/2019 21:40

"All cars should be (almost) identical and the pilot should matter the most. I have never cheered Adrian Newey on the grid and I have never bought a t-shirt qith Ross Brawn. I don't know any name from any pit crew that may have won one.of Schumacher's titles. I've always supported drivers and.sometime teams. That's it. That's all it takes: make the driver matter more than the car."

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6. Posted by kdxrider, 03/01/2019 16:38

"Of course, the fact there is 'spec this' and spec that' and everything has to be the same has nothing to do with the predictability ----- "

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7. Posted by nonickname, 03/01/2019 16:26

"How about moto3,moto2,motoGP.
Where the major difference is the size of the balls."

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8. Posted by jasman, 03/01/2019 15:29

"How about extra ballast in the car based of your season points standing? It seems to me that anything restrictive will probably benefit the teams with the most resources."

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9. Posted by Yeyox02, 03/01/2019 15:03

"Mr.Brawn...would you take a medicine that has not been tested? There is no doubt that all decisions in F1 are made using brown matter instead of grey matter."

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10. Posted by Spindoctor, 03/01/2019 14:16

"Really?
This is yet another really crazy idea. The tyres are unpredictable enough without recourse to making their selection even more of a lottery.
What next? Maybe they could try selecting a couple of drivers at random to do the Race in clown suits? (nope I've suggested that before). Perhaps they could secrete small explosive devices in all the cars, and explode them based on various arbitrary & irrational criteria?

I'm almost glad I won't be watching F1 now its switched to Sky...."

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11. Posted by GrahamG, 03/01/2019 14:12

"Why then bother with funny tyres for the race?. Why not just stick to one tyre spec for the whole year and unlimited quantities. Massively reduces cost and allows teams to optimise their car for the tyres. Also means sainted Pirelli actually have to produce a serious and relevant race tyre (if they can)"

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Brawn seeking to scrap Friday tyre testing?

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