Formula 1 will conduct its 2021 pre-season testing on March 12-14 in Bahrain following an agreement reached between the sport's chiefs, the FIA and the teams.
Teams had initially planned to test in Barcelona in early March, the traditional venue for winter testing.
But the postponement of the Australian GP due to lingering COVID-19 restrictions has led to Bahrain hosting the opening round of the campaign.
Therefore, from a logistical and practical perspective - not to mention cost reasons - it made sense to also transfer pre-season testing to Sakhir where teams will establish themselves for the better part of two weeks.
According to reports, teams debated the possibility of testing on the weekend before the Bahrain GP. But McLaren, which is changing engine suppliers this season, opposed the idea as it wanted more time to fine tune its new package.
But an obvious silver lining to the change is the additional extra week of preparation allocated to all the teams.
Pre-season testing will therefore take place at Sakhir on March 12-14, from Friday to Sunday, two weeks before the start of the 2021 season.
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