No Barcelona testing?
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Because teams felt – rightly so, in my opinion – that the Bahrain weather, air and track temperatures are closer to what they’ll encounter during most of the season.
And they didn’t give a second thought to the fans who go to the tests because race tickets are too expensive. And by the way, temperatures in Catalunya in late Feb/early March are the same as they are in Jerez at the end of January.
And another thing, Pirelli insisted on a wet test, so they dragged in an old water tanker to spray the track but they could just as easily have gone to Portimao where, I believe, they built the track with a sprinkler system for that very purpose.@toolmansteve99, but the temperatures in Bahrain are much hotter than in Jerez/Barcelona.
@toolmansteve99 – Testing is not run for the benefit of the fans. It never has been. Testing is for the teams, to allow them to come to an understanding about their cars. They do not owe the fans anything.
For the past few years, the teams have struggled with low temperatures and rain during winter testing. With the changes to the engine formula, it was decided to move testing to Bahrain as it has a far more stable climate, thereby allowing the teams to get the most out of the time available.
Which, @prisoner-monkeys and @toolmansteve99, makes complete sense. It’s more expensive to run there of course since you have to fly everything over but the more representative data gathered as a result more than offsets that (if, unlike Red Bull, you leave the garage for more than 10 minutes).
Actually, F1 is not run for the fans at all. And that is where it’s all gone wrong. It should go back to being more accessible to all.
I remember a Silverstone mid-season tyre test in the late 1980s – after the track had closed for the day, the crowd was allowed on track and into the pit lane. One guy was there with his three year old son and asked one of the Benetton mechanics if he could take a picture of his son standing next to the car.
The mechanic agreed and the father got his picture of the lad standing by the front wing. The mechanic then picked up the boy and sat him in the cockpit – that’s the attitude that is missing these days.You are lucky the teams even allow access to the tests at all. The last thing they need is people wondering around pit lane. They could reasonably ask that the tests be carried out in private and the FIA would be well within their rights to agree to that. Just because they are running their cars, it does not mean that fans are entitled to have access to everything.
Thought I would add this article for good measure:
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