F1 pre-season testing: Driver line-ups for Barcelona

Formula 1 kicks into gear today in Barcelona for the sport's first three days of pre-season testing.

A sense of anticipation has been ramping up within the F1 community and among its fans since the start of the teams' presentation season.

Everyone has unveiled their all-new 2022 design that caters to Grand Prix racing's new technical regulations that have undergone their biggest overhaul since 2009, and the time has come for everyone to put their machines through their paces.

The action at the Circuit de Catalunya is scheduled to kick off every day at 09:00 CET (08:00 GMT) and drivers will run until 13:00 CET (12:00 GMT), after which teams will enjoy a one-hour lunch break with the running resuming at 14:00 CET (13:00 GMT) and concluding at 18:00 CET (17:00 GMT).

Unfortunately, there will be no live broadcast of this week's F1 test and the Circuit de Catalunya's gates will remain closed to the public, but rest assured that we will keep our readers up to speed with events and pictures over the course of the day, every day.

• Pirelli: Barcelona test to include half-day of wet running

Red Bull, AlphaTauri, McLaren and Alpine have assigned one driver to Wednesday's session while all other teams have split the day between their two drivers.

George Russell whose career with Mercedes begins in earnest today will have the privilege of giving the Brackley squad's new W13 its official baptism of fire.

At the other end of the pitlane, Alfa Romeo F1 has assigned reserve driver Robert Kubica to its morning session on Wednesday with new recruit Valtteri Bottas taking over in the afternoon.

As a reminder, Friday afternoon has been earmarked as a wet session during which teams will sample Pirelli's wet-weather tyres on Barcelona's artificially damp track.

Driver line-ups for Barcelona pre-season test

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