Test Drivers

[marcus]

evening Folks

I was searching round the net today looking for some photos that are now in the F1 forum but it got me thinking about Formula One test drivers.

I was wondering if they have always been a part of F1 or is it relatively a new thing.

the first that i can recall is in the late 80's when McLaren were dominating and had the cash to pay for test drivers , but im sure they were used before that time.

I also understand that people were given "Test drives" to evaluate their abilities as a race driver but does anyone know when "Test drivers" as we see them today such as the likes of Wurz,Badoer,McNish,Burti and the like used solely for the purpose of testing and (in my opinion) not really ever being considered to step up into the race seat of that team ?

[HiRich]

Since no-one else has had a go, I'll bump it up a bit.

You can break it down into different groups:
Reserve drivers: officially nominated as a replacement for an unfit driver (though I don't think it means that much, as they are very easy to change). I believe they can replace a driver before final qualifying. Takuma Sato, as resreve for BAR, blotted his copybook by not being available at Monaco this year.
Career test drivers: Like McNish, available for most tests. Generally, they no longer compete in another series.
Occasional test drivers: Normally racing somewhere else. Called in when the others aren't available, or for basic stuff like straight line tests (bedding in, aero, brake)
Try-outs: The team bring someone in to see how good they are.

On career test drivers, these started to appear when the funds (and therefore the opportunities to run tests) exploded. The drivers started to complain that they spent too much time in the car and flying round the world, not leaving enough time to recuperate for the races. The earliest I can recall is Mark Blundell at Williams (?), probably in 1989 or 1990. IIRC, it was he who recommended Damon Hill to Williams as test driver (MB had moved to McLaren?). Mansell loathed testing, and was glad to have someone (once he trusted their opinions, and not a team mate gaining an advantage) to do the donkey work, and set a baseline that he could refine (and boost his ego by blitzing their best time on quallies and in the cool evening air).

Not strictly the same, but I also recall that the Ferrari chief tester (Benuzzi?) used to include F1 testing in his remit, back in the '70s.

[spearce]

They've always been around (eg John Miles at Lotus), but the big teams do so much testing now that they've got 2! This would be unheard of even 10 years ago. There's also the issue of experience, do you take an 'older' guy like McNish or Frenzen who can give gould feedback, or a younster with maybe no F1 experience to pedal round as quickly as poss.?

[KA]

Think Williams had been employing test drivers for a while- didn't Jean-Louis Schlesser do some testing work for Williams in addition to his touring car and sportscar racing activities in the 80's?-

presumably his legendary appearance (as a substitute for an unwell Mansell) at Monza in 88 must have been due to an existing connection with the team- he was hardly the most obvious candidate for the drive given that he probably hadn't raced any kind of single-seater for a couple of years at least.....

[KA]

Schlesser's entry on the 'F1 Rejects site mentions his WIlliams testing:

http://f1rejects.crosswinds.net/driv...biography.html

[Edgar Jessop]

I don't doubt "test drivers" have been around since the beginnings of motor racing.

So many early racing drivers doubled as chauffeurs or demonstrators; off the top of my head Szisz and Caracchiola [at the start of his career] spring to mind.

Then there were engineer/drivers like Bertocchi or Ulenhaut.

But the first full-year contracted F1 test driver I can remember in the modern sense of the job was Emanuelle Pirro at McLaren in 1988.

[ianselva]

I went to Lotus for an interview for a Mechanic on the Test Team that Lotus were just about to set up in the early 60s ( 1963 I think) The idea was eventually postponed as Chapman decided he couldn't afford a seperate team at the time.