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Post-race tests a compromise - Whitmarsh

Martin Whitmarsh: "It is a balance and a compromise that has been struck" © Sutton Images

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• In-season testing looks set to return in 2014
  

• Drivers:
• Martin Whitmarsh

• Teams:
• McLaren

Martin Whitmarsh says the post-race tests planned to return in 2014 are "a compromise" and should not see costs spiral again.

After a meeting between the teams in Canada last weekend a proposal for four two-day tests in the week following a race at a European circuit will be put in front of the FIA's World Motor Sport Council. While a return to in-season testing next year could appear to be expensive in a season which could potentially feature 21 races, Whitmarsh said the subsequent removal of other track sessions should offset the cost of the tests.

"I think there's always a balance and I have historically supported a limitation on testing, as well as a whole range of other limitations," Whitmarsh said. "But I think the compromise that's being struck is that by testing at a circuit on the Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday after a race in Europe makes it a little bit more practical.

"What we have also done is taken out a plethora of straight-line runs, demo runs, aero runs, and the young driver test which had grown on the edge of things. Personally I like testing; when I was more of an engineer in the team they were really fun things to do and I think for the drivers I think they like working together with the engineers.

"It is a balance and a compromise that has been struck, which hopefully the majority of the teams support. We have to, nonetheless, continue to find ways in which we can save costs for the small teams, and we've got to be mindful of the challenges that they have as a business."

Whitmarsh added that while the tests mean extra workloads for the teams, he doesn't envisage a return to separate test and race teams.

"The proposals that we've got just about limit that. Historically we had race trucks and test trucks, we had a race team and a test team, and I think by doing this it's a bit of a strain and if you combine it with 21 races then it's a pretty tough old season. Formula One doesn't get any easier and we rely on adrenaline to get us through the year."

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