Rivals back Alonso over ’ridiculous’ F1 test rules

Two more Formula 1 drivers have backed Fernando Alonso’s claim that a mere three days of pre-season testing with a single car per two-driver team is "ridiculous".

"We’re talking about the most demanding sport, with budgets of 200 million per team per year. It seems ridiculous," said the Aston Martin driver.

"It’s like swapping the racquets and balls in tennis and letting the players train for just one day before a Grand Slam," Alonso, 42, added.

When asked about Alonso’s comments, Williams driver Alex Albon says it’s clear that F1 cracked down on testing "to make the whole thing a little fairer" for the smaller teams.

"On the other hand, we don’t have a test car at all," he said, referring to the way the F1 regulations allow teams to do some running outside of the official schedule with two-year-old cars.

"While other teams do a bit of driving in the winter months, yesterday was my first day in a Formula 1 car since Abu Dhabi," Albon explained. "That’s not fair."

The three-day schedule means that drivers tend get a maximum of one and a half days of running in their 2024-spec cars before the opening race.

"Assuming the test goes completely smoothly," said Mercedes’ George Russell, "one and a half days per driver is the absolute minimum."