Alonso Asks for More F1 Testing Days

The 2011 season of Formula One will be comprised of 20 races, meaning one additional round as compared to last year. In the meantime, testing days have remained unchanged, as all teams and drivers continue to have only 15 days of on-track preparation for the new campaign (track time is actually divided by 2 in the drivers' case).

That being said, 2-time world champion Fernando Alonso addressed this issue just before returning to Maranello, at Ferrari's Wroom media event, saying that as much as he likes driving around for 20 races in 2011, a bit more testing should be allowed also.

“I like 20 races, [because] I like racing and competing, so to have more races is welcome,” said Alonso. “But I also like testing, so I'd like 20 races and more testing. It's not easy and it's unfair for new drivers that they cannot test more.”

After leaving the Madonna di Campiglio ski resort in the Italian Dolomites, Alonso visited the Maranello headquarters to have a seat fitting with the new chassis, internally code-named 288. Talking about the challenges ahead, Alonso shared some preliminary views on how 2011 will look like from a technical perspective.

“The cars will certainly be more complex to handle on the part of the driver because we will have more operations to carry out. There will be the return of KERS and the new adjustable rear wing, even if the front wing won't be adjustable any more,” he said, while admitting that simulator work is an important part of the 2011 preparation.

“You will need to find the way to adapt and find the right mechanisms for the buttons to avoid losing the correct concentration for driving. The simulator gives us a big hand with that, allowing us to do intensive training on this aspect.”