I’m less worried about Virgin, who are at least testing. It is the thought of USF1 who are now talking (well as in January, the last time we heard out of them) about turning up and essentially using the race as testing (“It might not be pretty but we’ll be there”), really not having tried the car out at all – especially when its senior designer seems to have a strange pedigree: http://www.housefish.com/suspended_bed.jpg

I think we have got a bit blase about F1 safety – but mainly I just think it is unnecessary to have the highest levels of medical care and crash testing, but then allow someone to enter an entirely untested bit of kit into a race.

Thinking about it, I doubt USF1 will be there, so I am over-reacting

McLaren for instance with mirrors and rear wing failures

Williams, Toyota and Minardi I also recall having wing problems in the past.

It also wasn’t too long ago that Red Bull had suspension issues that would break over high curbs.

So I think you are perhaps overreacting a bit but what it does highlight is that the testing restrictions are a bit of a farce especially for the new teams who have no historical data to go on and have a lot of work to do if they experience any reliability issues.

I think we have to cut virgin some slack as other teams have had similar problems with mounts in the past.

I very much agree on usf f1 and campos though. If they ever turn up.

Virgin have just found that CAD does not substitute for real life running.

We saw last year that a fault on a car, whether by design or mistake, can have dire consequences. We have got used to experienced teams with 1,000s of hours of track time evolving their cars. Try and think back to the last structural failure of a car due to a design fault – not due to some form of impact.

Now we have new teams turning up, and we have the prospect of USF1 and Campos turning up at the first race without their cars having has any serious running or testing.

That is a potentially fatal mix – not just for the drivers, but for those around them.

Scrutineering is about the legality of the car, not that it is fit for purpose. Should the FIA allow cars to the first race that have not been put through a reasonable amount of testing?

How come a Williams with a brand new Cosworth customer engine can do this ?

Did Moseley steal a power advantage for his Pet teams running the Cosworth as part of his revenge/battle with the FOTA and the Manufacturer teams ?

I must say having read some quotes from Virgin about their testing today, they said they were very positive about the aero performance of the car.

Presumably until the point that the front wing fell off (teething problems to be expected with a new team and all new design I suppose), but it certainly made me smile.

You’re sounding impressed by the Cosworth facility by the way! Great company, great heritage.

Just a shame they no longer collaborate with Ford on their fast cars….