Barcelona Test Changes Date in March

The final group test of the off-season has been subject to several changes in the past few weeks, due to the political unrest in Bahrain. Initially scheduled to take place between March 3-6 in the Kingdom, one week before the season opening round, the test was canceled by the FIA due to the recent violent clashes between the police and anti-government protesters.

The Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) initially agreed to reschedule the last test of the pre-season for March 8-11, and decided to use Barcelona for the meeting.

According to a recent report from British magazine Autosport, it seems the team's alliance has decided to further operate some changes regarding the Barcelona test, switching from 8-11 to 9-12 dates. The information was revealed by Williams technical director Sam Michael during the recent unveiling of his team's livery for the FW33 challenger. However, no reason for the date switch has been revealed.

Even with the one-day rescheduling of the Barcelona test, the teams will have plenty of time to prepare for the season opening Australian Grand Prix (March 25-27), scheduled two weeks after the running in Barcelona.

The canceling of the Bahrain test & race in recent days means all 15 days of testing in F1 have now taken place in Europe. In addition, Australia will once again get to open up the Formula 1 championship, following a one-year absence in 2010.