MONTMELO, Spain — The first race of the new F1 season is still over three weeks away, but on-track action officially gets underway on Feb. 23 at the opening pre-season test in Spain. It will be the first chance to see all 10 teams on track together and the first time the cars have run away from private filming days.
In recent years, F1 testing has generated huge excitement among fans wanting to see their favourite drivers back on track ahead of the new season, but the timesheets at the end of the day can be misleading and confusing. Below is a guide to what testing is all about and how much you should be reading into the headline grabbing lap times from the upcoming track action.
When and where are the tests?
There are two three-day preseason tests this year. The opening test at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya has been branded as a “shakedown” by F1 and the second test in Bahrain is the “official” pre-season test.
Only the Bahrain test will be televised (although that will depend where in the world you are watching) and it is rumoured the desert kingdom has paid extra to host the only “official preseason test” this year. But its best to ignore the marketing spin as both tests are essentially the same thing, with all 10 teams on track over three days with the aim of getting a better understanding of their new cars.
First test — Barcelona, Spain — Feb. 23-25
Second test — Sakhir, Bahrain — March 10-12
Why does F1 go testing?
They may looks meticulously designed, and they are, but F1 cars are still 200 mph science experiments. While a great deal of work has gone into the theory of making a new car go fast, there’s still the potential that the wheels come off (both figuratively and literally, as Fernando Alonso found out in his McLaren in 2018) when the car leaves the garage for the first time. As a result, a new F1 car has to be debugged before it can be driven in anger, and the opening morning of the preseason is often spent running system…
Source : espn
