Or do they only practice in the simulator?
Also do reserve drivers get to drive real cars on the track? Or is it just the sim for them?
Teams are not allowed to drive their cars on track outside of a few set moments. There’s pre-season testing, a few days post-season, and that’s about it. Although a few weeks back there were extra tests for the new tires.
It takes a few years (three, I believe) for cars to become freely available to teams. At promotional events you’ll see Red Bull drive a repainted 2019 car, for example.
That’s interesting, so generally drivers just practice using a simulator?
Yup! That’s also why it takes a while for rookies to get up to speed. F1 cars are not easy to drive and there’s little opportunity for practice
some don’t even do that. Like Lewis rarely uses sims.
They (Red Bull) usually drive with V8 engined cars, so they’re actually quite a bit older.
It would actually be an interesting concept to have “track practice hours” quota divided similarly to aero tunnel hours.
My counter here is that you’d be disincentivising the promotion of drivers from Formula 2, since they would need more time than a driver coming over from another team.
the problem is the teams who need practice the most are the ones who can least afford it. that’s why it doesn’t exist anymore.
Teams are not allowed to do anything during the summer break. So everything closes down to make sure everyone gets at least a couple of weeks off during the year.
even aside from summer breaks the cars can’t really ever be driven outside of official GP sessions, with some very minimal exceptions.
