George Russell wants the rules to be change to allow Formula 1 teams to run two cars at the same time during pre-season testing.
Just three days of testing are allowed these days in F1, giving teams a very limited amount of time to find any problems in their new cars and for the drivers to get used to them before the competitive action begins.
The first of those three days began on Thursday, with several examples of what teams do not want with such limited testing time at their disposal. Felipe Drugovich lost a fair amount of time with an electrical issue, Fernando Alonso had a broken floor and Lando Norris lost a lot of running time while McLaren fixed a problem on his car.
With each driver only getting a day and a half behind the wheel of their new cars before the season begins, Grand Prix Drivers' Association director Russell feels a change need to be made to give racers more time with their new machines.
He said: "Personally speaking, I don't think three days is enough, because you have got to remember from a driver's perspective, that is one and a half days per driver. We were fortunate to do the [filming days] last week, but had we not, that would have been getting on for 12 weeks out of the car from Abu Dhabi to Bahrain.
"Could you imagine Rafael Nadal spending 12 weeks without hitting a ball and then going straight into the French Open with one and a half days of training? You know, it just wouldn't ever happen."
Testing takes place over just three days as a cost-cutting measure and also an opportunity to not increase the already huge workload for trackside staff. While Russell is on board those points, he feels allowing teams to run both of their cars at the same time would provide extra running without exacerbating those issues too much.
The Mercedes star added: "I understand and recognise why we do that. I think three days with two cars would probably be a good place to be. And I think that would probably be the best compromise for all of the reasons why we're trying to limit it but right now one and a half days per driver I think is too few."
Alonso agrees with Russell, and said: "This year we have only one day and a half testing in Bahrain, so I am aware that I will not be 100% in Bahrain, not in Jeddah, maybe not in Australia. So that's a little bit unfair, maybe. I think that is the only sport in the world that you do one day and a half a practice and then you play a world championship. There is no other sport in the world [that does that]."
