DC VOICES TEST SAFETY CONCERNS
14 May 2005 - ITV Sport

David Coulthard has voiced concerns that the safety provisions at Formula 1 tests are dangerously inadequate

The Scot, one of four directors of the Grand Prix Drivers Association, has called for a tightening-up of procedures at test tracks around the world, which he says fall far short of those at grand prix meetings.

Speaking to Autosport magazine, he said: “There is a real concern within the GPDA to look at how we can go about improving safety standards in testing.

“We feel that there is no reason to have a distinction between when we go grand prix racing and when we go testing.

“The speeds are the same, the tracks are the same, but the safety standards are not.”

Tests are not regulated by the governing body except inasmuch as they have to be held at FIA-approved circuits.

Coulthard said that the problem lies not with the tracks themselves but with a lack of marshals and medical facilities, a situation he described as “not really acceptable”.

A number of other drivers are known to share Coulthard’s misgivings, but so far none has been prepared to put them on the record.

However, DC said: “What we want to do is progress in a constructive manner. Nothing will change by keeping quiet about it.”

FIA president Max Mosley said the governing body would be prepared to encompass testing within the sporting regulations, but a change would require the agreement of all 10 teams.

“There was a time when there was a testing regulation in the sporting regulations and at a certain point we said we would prefer not to be involved and the teams reached agreement.

“If they now want to have a regulation, we can, but one or two teams who are signatories to the Concorde Agreement said they don’t want the FIA regulating testing.

“We can if everyone agrees.”

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