Team principal Katie Clements has announced that A1 Team Great Britain will use just one driver for the entire 2008/09 season.
Great Britain to turn back on previous tactic
Team principal Katie Clements has announced that A1 Team Great Britain will use just one driver for the entire 2008/09 season.
Speaking to
A1GP.com this week, Clements said she felt the team's tactic last season of using two drivers placed them at a disadvantage.
Great Britain used Robbie Kerr and Oliver Jarvis in five events each on their way to a third successive bronze medal.
This season, however, just one driver being used for the majority, if not all, of the races.
Explaining the team's rationale, Clements said: "Our drivers kept coming back to A1GP after being out of our cars for some time, and on occasions driving other cars.
"They weren't as in-tune with our car as they could have been and that's one of the reasons why we should look to using just a one driver strategy going forward.
"Our aim is to win the championship and definitely using one driver is an element of that.
"With one driver having to race continuously, it would not be a question of them missing some races, and then them having to get used to the A1GP car again. Just look down the pit lane at Switzerland and New Zealand - they were the two teams that finished ahead of us and they had just one driver.
"And, to be frank, who knows what would have happened if France [who finished fourth] had kept with the one driver [in Loic Duval]?
"The fight for bronze would have been even tougher, and it was tough enough already. We beat France because they didn't have consistent drivers.
"The situation is amplified further by switching to the new car this season. It is about maintaining that consistency, so one driver understands everything there is to know."
Decision
The decision on who will ultimately race will be tough one for Clements and the team.
Kerr and Jarvis were evenly matched last season, scoring one race win and four podium finishes each from their equal share of the 20 races contested.
Other drivers are also likely to be evaluated at the first official test of the summer, to be held at Silverstone between August 18th and 20th.
From then on, one driver is likely to be chosen for the second test in Mugello and for the entire 2008/09 season.
"The teams that have already decided which driver they are going to use will have an advantage in testing [by not having to evaluate different ones at Silverstone]," Clements added.
"It means by the first race, some drivers will have had five whole days in the new A1GP Powered by Ferrari car.
"Ideally we want to have a driver that is committed for the entire season, but it does depend on a number of factors."
With A1GP just being a nations championship, teams are not restricted to how many drivers they run in a season.
All points scored by a driver go towards the nation's points tally, and a varying amount of strategies of driver selection have been used in the past.
For example, Mexico used five different race drivers last season, and France used three drivers in one meeting alone.
