F1 teams confirm dates for 2016 in-season tests

Formula One teams have confirmed the dates of the two in-season tests that will take place in 2016 with Silverstone set to host a session after the British Grand Prix, F1i has learned.

While pre-season testing has been cut to eight days from 12 last winter, teams will still have four during the year. According to the regulations, they will once again have to field young drivers who have not started more than two grands prix in at least two of their allocated four days.

As last season, the first two-day test will take place at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on May 17/18, namely after the Spanish Grand Prix. However, the second session will not be held in Austria's Red Bull Ring but at the Home of British Motorsport on July 12/13.

Several pilots had the opportunity to sample F1 machinery for the first time during last year’s in-season tests, including Williams development driver Alex Lynn (pictured above), Red Bull protégé Pierre Gasly and Ferrari Driver Academy member Antonio Fuoco.

This year’s pre-season preparations comprise two four-day tests and will kick off on February 22 at the Spanish Grand Prix venue.

Honda exclusive Q&A: Realistic expectations for 2016

Feature: What happens on any given F1 Saturday?

Technical preview: What changes in 2016?

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Julien Billiotte

Recent Posts

Piastri missing ‘the feeling of stress’ outside title fight

Oscar Piastri has discovered an unexpected downside to a season spent away from Formula 1's…

11 hours ago

Bearman opens up on ‘horrible’ triple header with Haas

Oliver Bearman is ready to put some distance between himself and Formula 1 after a…

12 hours ago

Honda baffled by battery mystery as Stroll retires again

Lance Stroll’s 2026 campaign has become a frustrating sequence of mechanical setbacks. The Canadian’s Sao…

13 hours ago

A nod to Formula 1's first female driver

Maria Teresa de Filippis - motorsport's first female F1 Grand Prix driver - was born…

15 hours ago

Ricciardo: Verstappen will go down as ‘one of the best ever’

Daniel Ricciardo has never been short of admiration for Max Verstappen, but the retired Australian…

16 hours ago

'He's very lucky': Coulthard takes aim at Norris' podium antics

David Coulthard admires Lando Norris’s ability to thread a Formula 1 car through treacherous conditions…

17 hours ago