A legendary Formula 1 circuit, not used consistently for over a decade, is to see on-track action later this month via a Pirelli tyre test involving Mercedes and McLaren.
With F1 forced to sit out racing for over a month due to the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix, the Miami GP over the May Day bank holiday will be the next time we will see the 22 cars race.
But Pirelli has been putting its rubber through its paces, having been forced to cancel a planned pre-season test in Bahrain, set for the weekend the country was first subjected to missile strikes, in response to the USA and Israel’s offensive on Iran.
With the Italian marque utilising Red Bull for a test in Suzuka last week, Mercedes and McLaren – the teams chosen for the cancelled Bahrain test – will return in April.
But this time, the location chosen will be in much closer proximity to the 11 teams bases.
A report from PlanetF1 states that the Nurburgring will be the circuit, but the inclusion of Mercedes and McLaren is thought to be coincidental, and not a direct replacement for the Bahrain one.
The circuit has been commonly used in its different guises for several decades, originally running the German Grand Prix on its infamous and notoriously-dangerous Nordschleiffe layout.
When the shorter circuit, adjacent to the ‘Green Hell’, was opened in 1984, it became an intermittent venue for the event, as well as the European Grand Prix, and twice in the late 90s as the Luxembourg Grand Prix.
After the circuit began to feature less, it was brought back to cater for the contination of the 2020 season, held during the Covid-19 pandemic, and was given its fourth different event: the Eiffel Grand Prix.
The test will be the first time since then that F1 cars of the current era will take to the circuit, with its organisers surely hoping that it may help fuel desire from people within to sport to see it firmly back on the calendar.
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