Live broadcast coverage of the opening Formula 1 pre-season test at the Bahrain International Circuit will be curtailed with limited access as per reports.
F1 is all set to embark on its latest era with the teams expected to run their 2026 cars in anger for the first time at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, next week.
While this event, running between 26th and 30th of January, is, for all intents and purposes, the first of three pre-season testing opportunities, it has been dubbed as a ‘private shakedown’.
This is because no media or broadcast coverage will be allowed during this test. The teams will have the opportunity to iron out any ’embarrassing’ teething issues generally expected of a drastic rule change as the one undertaken this year.
Teams will only be allowed to run during three of these pre-allotted five days, with McLaren already revealing that it will sit out the very first day and only take to the track “either in day two or day three” per Team Principal Andreas Stella.
Why F1 is limiting access to opening Bahrain pre-season test
After the shakedown in Barcelona, the teams will take a two-week hiatus before moving onto the Bahrain International Circuit between February 11 and 13 – a venue that has become the regular choice for pre-season testing in the sport’s more recent history.
While it was expected that this test would be business as usual in terms of live timing, media coverage and fan access, it would appear that F1 has decided to limit access here as well.
Barcelona will be completely out of bounds for the media and the fans. But at the opening Bahrain test live timing and broadcast will be heavily regulated as per reports emerging from within the paddock.
The rational behind this is simple: Teams aren’t expected to get things in order by the time the Barcelona test concludes. Hence, the three-day second test will also see a lot of fiddling and tweaking in the garages and less out-right track time for the cars.
That said, the final test, at Bahrain, a week later, is expected to have full media and TV coverage as the teams would have hopefully sorted their initial gremlins and would use the three days to finally optimise their packages for on-track action.
No details have been confirmed yet, and F1 is still to divulge a detailed prospectus of the upcoming pre-season events.
READ MORE – McLaren to miss first day of Barcelona pre-season testing
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