Broadcast plans shift for this year's first Bahrain pre-season test

08:30, 22 Jan

byNicole Mulder

Only the final hour will be broadcast during the first set of three pre-season testing days in Bahrain this year.

Initially, the plan was to broadcast all test days in full, but it now appears that only the final hour of the first three days (15:00-16:00 GMT) will be shown live.

The second set of three days will be broadcast in full. This was finalized two days ago and communicated to the rights holders, GPblog has learned.

Large part of Bahrain winter test will not be broadcast

The first test at the Bahrain International Circuit will take place from 11 to 13 February, followed by another three test days from 18 to 20 February.

These tests will remain accessible to media and the public. So there will still be news from the circuit, and photos and videos will surface, but to watch the session live during the first test, people will have to wait for the final hour of each day. For the second test, you can tune in from 7:00 GMT as scheduled, with coverage running until the end at 16:00 GMT.

Photo: Red Bull Content Pool

In the United Kingdom, viewers can tune between 11 and 13 February from 15:00 to watch the session on Sky Sports. The past season, the sessions were also shown on Sky Sports' YouTube channel. F1 TV Pro is unavailable in the country.

Before the winter tests in Bahrain get underway, another test will take place at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on 26-30 January. The new cars will run behind closed doors, giving teams and drivers an initial impression of their cars’ reliability and performance on track.

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