Horner makes the case for testing in Bahrain

Red Bull's Christian Horner believes the reduced costs associated with testing in Barcelona rather than Bahrain are a false economy for teams when faced with the vagaries of the weather.

Wednesday's third day of pre-season testing was a wrote-off for most teams as freezing temperatures coupled with snow wreaked havoc on testing programmes.

Horner insisted the lost mileage was a deficit few teams could afford, alluding to the prospect of choosing a different venue in the future to guarantee good climate conditions.

"Sitting here in the snow? Well, anywhere would be better," Horner told the media yesterday in Barcelona.

"We came here for cost reasons. It’s cheaper than flying all the kit and people out to Bahrain but it actually ends up costing you money by not running in terms of the lack of development and opportunities to fix faults."

• Cost and logistics preclude Bahrain as pre-season venue - Steiner

Indeed, costs associated with running at the Circuit de Catalunya and the fairly simple logistics involved with testing in Spain compare favourably with a complicated and expensive haul of personnel and equipment to Bahrain.

Haas' Guenther Steiner says swapping Barcelona for Bahrain as F1's venue of choice for pre-season testing in the future would indeed involve high costs and 'brutal' logistics which would impact the budgets of smaller teams .

Horner still believes the trade-off would be cost-effective one however.

"If there is an opportunity to go to a warmer climate next year then we would take it," he adds.

"It’s a trade-off in terms of the lack of running we have had this week and therefore the ability to fix problems that might bite you in the arse come race one, two and three.

"There are only eight days – it is such a premium. Four days per driver and we are down to three and a half each now.

"There is no other sport where you would have so few days of practice before going into a major tournament."

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