Formula 1 teams’ new cars for 2022 will run together for the first time behind closed doors with no live timing or television coverage, the series has confirmed.
Considerable interest surrounds the first designs built to F1’s drastically overhauled technical regulations for 2022.
Pre-season testing for the new season will began with three days of running at the Circuit de Catalunya from February 23rd to 25th. However the track will not be open to fans and, unlike in recent years, the test will not be broadcast live.
F1 described the opening test as “a lower key, pre-testing track session” which will “[allow] the teams to shake down their all-new-for-’22 cars for the first time in the same place”.
So-called shakedown tests typically involve a limited amount of running over a single day. Mercedes has previously announced its new W13 will “be put through a shakedown programme to complete initial system checks on the Silverstone circuit” on February 18th.
The running in…