Formula 1’s provisional plan for 2022 pre-season testing includes visits to both Barcelona and Bahrain.
The Barcelona test is due to take place around February 23-25, while the Bahrain test is slated for mid-March and is expected to be longer.
Faced with COVID restrictions and a significant machinery carryover, F1 limited itself to just a three-day pre-season test in Bahrain this year.
But even so it left several teams and drivers feeling less prepared then they would’ve liked to be, and pre-season mileage will take on an extra importance heading into 2022.
This will be the first time the all-new regulation cars, with their radically reworked aerodynamics, will be seen on track.
The last time F1 held its official pre-season testing at two different venues was in 2015, when it had four days each at a pair of Spanish venues, Jerez and Barcelona.
Although nothing has yet been finalised, it’s expected that the Bahrain test will lead into a pair of back-to-back races in the Middle East.
This would mean another opener in Bahrain followed by what would be the second Saudi Arabia Grand Prix in four months, after the inaugural event this December.
