Final test session for 2011 Formula 1 season to be held at Barcelona
Finally, the date for the fourth pre–season test session has been announced. The session will begin on the 8th of March and will end on the 12th of March 2011 at the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona.
All the teams were expected to begin the test on the 8th of March, however, four of them including, Ferrari, Mercedes GP, Williams and HRT have announced to begin the test one day later. Similarly, these teams will also end the test session one
day after the others.
The fourth test session was actually scheduled to take place ahead of the season opener, Bahrain Grand Prix at the beginning of March. However, political turmoil and unrest in the country forced the government to cancel the race.
The Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone however, is insistent that the race has not been cancelled, only postponed. A meeting of FIA has been scheduled for the upcoming week that will decide the new date for the race now.
Due to extreme weather conditions in summer, and slot unavailability at the end of the season, many believe that it will be a tough task for the sport to fit the race in the calendar. However, Ecclestone is still determined that if the conditions of the
country become stable, he will make sure to get the race adjusted in the calendar.
Due to the postponement of the race, the fourth testing was also cancelled which was also supposed to take place in Bahrain at the Sakhir circuit this weekend. However, just like the earlier three test sessions, the last one will also be held in Spain now.
All the teams, except for HRT have already unveiled their new 2011 cars. Although the team has not yet announced any date, there are reports that the new car will uncover for the first time, either on Wednesday or Thursday, in Barcelona.
The cancellation of the first race has given some of the teams extra time to prepare. Teams like McLaren and Mercedes GP, which had not been able to make their mark at the initial tests, were glad to get two additional weeks for preparation.
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