Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso have joined Williams in opposing Ferrari's request to allow Michael Schumacher to test a 2009-specification ahead of his return to Formula 1 at Valencia later in the month.
The Red Bull teams are unwilling to cede to the request after Dietrich Mateschitz claimed that a similar one by Toro Rosso to give 19-year-old rookie Jaime Alguersuari some track time prior to his F1 debut in Hungary was refused.
"We asked for a test permission for Alguersuari before the Hungarian GP and it was turned down," said Mateschitz. "So why should we approve an exemption for a seven-time-champion after this? We are happy that Jaime did such an excellent job on his debut."
Red Bull's motorsport coordinator Helmut Marko told the
Salzburger Nachrichten newspaper that he believed Michael Schumacher would have little trouble adapting to contemporary Formula 1 machinery and therefore did not need to test.
"Schumacher is experienced enough to be fairly competitive in the new car very soon," said Marko. "To let him do an extra test is not in the spirit of the regulations. If he indeed did his run last week on GP2 rubber, it will make a huge difference."
"We have the same opinion as stated in the rules, therefore we cannot agree with Michael getting a test exemption," added Marko. "And we are not the only ones to have this opinion."