Another potential problem with the young driver test

There has been widespread criticism this week of teams who sold their seats at the Young Driver Test to drivers with money, rather than necessarily those with talent. And while I do see this as a problem, I have noticed another trend that threatens the whole purpose of the test.

My fears surround McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes, and the drivers they used in the test. McLaren used long-term test driver Gary Paffett as well as Oliver Turvey, who does simulator work for the team as well as driving in their GT programme. Ferrari used their reserve driver Jules Bianchi, while Mercedes used Sam Bird. All three teams used exactly the same lineups as in 2010. And there is where my fears are.

Not only is the Young Driver Test a chance to give young drivers a chance to drive current F1 machinery, but it also gives the teams some vital extra running that they can use to collect data.

With the test being so crucial to the teams for car development, I fear that the aforementioned drivers could become career 'young driver test drivers'. Obviously it is in the interests of the teams to put the most suitable driver available to them in the car. Doing so allows them to make the most of the test in terms of car development. For that reason, should the likes of Turvey, Bianchi and Bird all fail to secure a race seat in F1 in the coming years (which looks very possible with the current requirement of having money), then McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes will continue to use them.

All three are highly accomplished drivers who have been very successful in their careers to date and racked up plenty of experience. I firmly believe that all three would do a good job if given an F1 seat. But for as long as they do not get a race seat, they will continue to be eligible for the Young Driver Test. The more mileage they do for the team, the more valuable they will be for them. Therefore, there is very little motivation for any of these teams to use a different driver each year in the Young Driver Test.

In this way, Turvey, Bianchi and Bird could all be more valuable for their teams then established ex-racers such as Pedro de la Rosa, who are not able to drive in this test. With the race drivers available for pre-season testing, testers with race experience are not really needed at all. De la Rosa himself raised this issue this week. However, he was just looking after his own interests. He has had his chance in F1, and I say that testing should be left for rookies as a way of building up their experience.

Going back to the real issue here, the likes of Turvey, Bianchi and Bird could become so valuable to their teams that they are not even released to other teams to get a race drive. But more importantly they are preventing other young drivers from getting chances in these teams. This therefore defeats the whole object of the Young Driver Test.

Between them the teams really ought to come up with some kind of rule to force teams to run a new driver to the team each year. Otherwise the Young Driver Test becomes completely pointless.

Of course, as I have said many times before, the real solution to giving young drivers some experience is to force teams to run them in Friday practice at each Grand Prix. But then again, you might find we have just the same problems.