Formula 1: 2022 pre-season testing dates in Barcelona and Bahrain confirmed

Formula 1's pre-season testing dates have been confirmed for 2022, with three days of track running in Spain, before the brand-new cars head to Bahrain in March for the official pre-season test. Two sessions of three days each will take place ahead of the 23-race Formula 1 campaign to ring in the new era. The first outing is a lower key, pre-testing track session at Barcelona on February 23-25, allowing the teams to shake down their all-new-for-'22 cars for the first time in the same place.

However, as is traditional with teams' pre-testing-type events, the running at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya won't feature live, race-style coverage or live timing, but will include content and best lap times at the end of each day. The official pre-season test will then take place in Bahrain on March 10-12, ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix on the weekend of March 18-20. Fans will be in attendance, while there will also be live TV coverage and timing. The build-up to the 2022 season is set to be fascinating, with wide-ranging changes to this new breed of F1 cars including ground-effect-generating 3D floors and re-designed front and rear wings, while Pirelli bring 18-inch tyres to the fray.