This is one of the topics that I'm always asked about.
 
Usually the question is, “Do you get to practice a lot?". In racing,
we call practice, “testing.” The reason why it is called testing is
because we are testing new things on the racecar. A better
phrase for “testing” is “Research and Development”.

Testing is one of the most important things in racing and as a
fan you never get to see it. It is essentially practice for the entire
team, but for the most part it is about developing the racecar and
learning more about what setup works best for what situations.

Testing is very expensive, so a team will have to pick which track
will be best for what needs to be accomplished. Not all tracks
are good testing tracks. You want to go to the track that is most
likely going to teach you what you are looking to learn.

At the lower levels of the racing ladder, testing is more about the driver because at that level the driver needs lots of seat time.
Usually the teams at those levels know quite a lot about the cars already, so it is more about making sure the driver is comfortable with the car.

At the higher levels, testing tends to be much less driving time because it is expected that the driver does not need as much time to get comfortable. Also at this level, the team may only be going to test a few things, so you will go out for 10 laps and then get out of the car for an hour to then go through what that specific setting really did.

Because testing is so expensive, the team needs to have a specific game plan that everyone knows, so that you can be as efficient and effective as possible. The mechanics need to have the car working properly so that time is not wasted with small issues. The engineers need to know what the next changes are so that there is minimal down time.

The driver’s role is much different in testing than on a race weekend. Yes, you still need to drive the car fast and to the best of your ability, but a driver needs to have a certain discipline as well. Sometimes, you are testing something that does not require you to go as fast as possible. A driver also has to be as consistent as possible so that you can have definite knowledge of what each setting change did.

The driver also has to give the right feedback to the engineers. If the car is doing one thing and the driver says it is doing the opposite, than the team will go in the wrong direction and then you have wasted the team’s time and money. A driver cannot throw the car into the wall either, as now the team’s day is done and you haven’t learned much except that walls hurt and racecars break.

The results of testing are not always known the same day. Usually you have to go back to the shop and sort through all of the information that was gathered and determine what worked and what did not. A team is never done testing. There is always something to learn and once you have learned that, there is something else beyond that to learn. You can always go faster!