Barcelona Could Replace Bahrain for F1 Test

Formula 1 officials are contemplating the idea of moving the last group test of the off-season, scheduled for March 3-6 in Bahrain, to Barcelona. Needless to say, the move would be done for security reasons, as political unrest in the Kingdom in recent weeks has led to concerns that anti-government protesters might use the season opening round in F1 to make their cause heard worldwide.

The situation worsened during the course of yesterday, when the GP2 Asia round at the Sakhir International Circuit was canceled following violent clashes between protesters and the local police in the nearby city of Manama.

With several team bosses expressing safety-related fears about the situation in recent days, the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) is due to meet later today to discuss the prospect of moving the group test in Bahrain to another venue. As for the running of the season opening round, F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone is to make a decision on that next week.

“FOTA has asked us what dates we have available at the prospect of being unable to go to the last test, but there is no formal request yet,” confirmed Vicenc Aguilera, the new president of the Circuit de Catalunya consortium, in a recent interview with El Pais newspaper.

He added that some of the dates between this week's test in Barcelona and the March date for the scheduled Bahrain test are already booked, but “if F1 asks us something, we will do our best to please.”