BIC to kick off three days of Formula 1 pre-season testing on Friday

BIC to kick off three days of Formula 1 pre-season testing on Friday

Formula 1’s 2021 contenders will be on track together for the first time this year as Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) hosts the first of three days of pre-season testing on Friday (Editor’s note: March 12) in Sakhir.

The much-anticipated sessions continue until Sunday (March 14) and are being held a fortnight ahead of the new championship campaign, which flags off with the F1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2021 from March 26 to 28 at “The Home of Motorsport in the Middle East”.

Tickets to the race weekend are now available for all vaccinated or COVID-19 recovered individuals. They are on sale at bahraingp.com with a single discounted price of BD100 across stands for the three-day event.

The F1 tests will have running from morning until the early evening. They are scheduled to begin each day at 10am and continue until 2pm. Following an hour-long break, the action resumes from 3pm to 7pm.

F1 testing follows the completion of three days of Formula 2 pre-season tests at BIC, held from Monday to Wednesday earlier this week. Both tests are taking place without spectators, as the circuit prepares for fans for the main event at the end of this month.

The teams, their cars and drivers:

• Mercedes, W12 car: Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas 
• Red Bull Racing, RB16B: Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez 
• McLaren, MCL35M: Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo 
• Aston Martin, AMR21: Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll 
• Alpine, A521: Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon 
• Ferrari, SF21: Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc
• AlphaTauri, AT02: Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly
• Alfa Romeo, C41: Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi 
• Haas, VF-21: Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin 
• Williams, FW43B: George Russell and Nicholas Latifi