Fernando Alonso has criticised the lack of official Formula 1 testing time available before he returns with Renault next season.
The Spaniard will be back on the grid after two years on the sidelines, this after leaving McLaren to focus on other series and events at the end of 2018.
However, due to the impact of Covid-19 and the lack of regulation changes on the technical side, F1 has agreed the usual pre-season testing will be cut to just three days compared to six this year.
“Yes, F1 is a contradiction,” Alonso told Spain’s AS newspaper. “It is the most sophisticated sport in the world, with millions and millions in investments, but the only one in which the athlete is prohibited from training.
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“Next year, there will be a day and a half of testing in total per driver with the new cars, and from there the world championship is on.
“It would be unthinkable for someone going to the Olympic Games to have a day and a half of training with the javelin and then to the Games.
“But it is what it is, and we have to look for alternative methods such as the simulator and other team investments to replace it,” he added.
Indeed, last week, Alonso returned to Enstone and completed his first simulator run as 2021 preparations began and as for hitting the track, team boss Cyril Abiteboul says there are some possibilities.
“He’s definitely keen on getting back behind the steering wheel,” he said via Formula1.com in Sochi.
“So you’ll see that. We’re building the programme, there is a couple of opportunities, within obviously the restrictions of the Sporting Regulations.
“Things like filming days that we’ve not done so far. There is a post-season test… so we’ll see where we get there. We also have a two-year-old car programme that we can run pretty much anywhere, and we will probably do a bit of that also
“So you’ll see him in action, but I can’t say here where and when exactly yet.”
The post-season test Abiteboul mentioned is meant only for young drivers, though Renault is seeking permission to run Alonso in a second car.
At the same time, the Frenchman accepts he also has to give Renault juniors their opportunity too.
“There is also some talk about the post-season test as reported,” he said, “but we also want to be sensible with our young drivers.
“We have Oscar [Piastri] who has already won the [F3] championship. There is Christian [Lundgaard] and Guanyu [Zhou] in the mix also [in F2].
“So we are trying to keep a good balance between Fernando, who wants to be back at the best possible level, but also our academy drivers.”
