F1 test 2022 in Bahrain: schedules, how to watch, rules and more

After the three days of winter testing that we experienced in Barcelona, Bahrain is the venue for the last three, the final week of testing before the 2022 Formula 1 season starts.

There will be three sessions from Thursday the 10th to Saturday the 12th of March, one week before the Bahrain GP that opens the world championship. F1 activity in Bahrain will start at ten in the morning local time, when in Spain it is eight in the morning, in Mexico one in the morning or in Argentina four in the morning.

Each day will have nine hours, of which four are in the morning (break at 2:00 p.m. in Bahrain, 12:00 p.m. in Spain, 5:00 a.m. in Mexico and 8:00 a.m. in Argentina), one break for lunch and another in the afternoon (until 7:00 p.m. in Bahrain, 5:00 p.m. in Spain, 10:00 a.m. in Mexico and 2:00 p.m. in Argentina).

And after the three days in Barcelona where Mercedes and Red Bull -with the addition of Ferrari- seemed to be in the best shape, in Bahrain the teams will finish tuning the cars for the start of the new season.

In addition, the tests in Bahrain can be followed on television, because F1 defined them as the official pre-season tests and considered those in Spain, without an audience or TV, as a “shakedown”.

Schedules of the F1 2022 preseason tests in Bahrain and days (Spanish time)

• From Thursday 10 to Saturday 12 March: from 08:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. in Spain (break at 12:00 p.m.).

What time will the F1 2022 Bahrain tests be in Latin America?

And in Bahrain? Local times for the 2022 F1 tests at Sakhir

How can I watch or follow the Formula 1 2022 pre-season winter tests?

After not being able to follow the Barcelona tests on television, those in Bahrain can be enjoyed in Spain on DAZN F1, with a live broadcast of all the hours on the track and a daily summary at night.

Also here, Motorsport.com Spain, we will do a direct of the 2022 pre-season tests every day.

And as for options F1TV Pro , the official F1 platform (for a fee, but not available in Spain), will publish a one-hour summary at the end of each day containing the highlights, interviews and analysis of the day.

How can I watch the 2022 Formula 1 season from Latin America?

In Argentina, this season the broadcasts of the highest category of motorsport will be in charge of Star + and Fox Sports , in addition, the latter platform will be the one that has the exclusive rights to Formula 1 throughout all of 2022 in Mexico. In Chile, the retransmissions will finally be carried out by Star+, Fox Sports 1 and ESPN.

In the rest of Latin America, with the exception of Brazil, it will be Star+ and ESPN that will share the 23 grand prizes of a season that will be a record, although only Star+ will televise each and every one of the events live.

Formula 1 2022 test times in Bahrain on DAZN F1 and price

In DAZN F1 you will be able to see everything that happens on the track, from 15 minutes before and up to 20 minutes after. These are the times for Thursday March 10, Friday 11 and Saturday 12 for F1 in Bahrain.

• From 07:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. morning session of the 2022 F1 test in Bahrain (LIVE)
• From 1:00 p.m. to 5:20 p.m. afternoon session of the 2022 F1 test in Bahrain (LIVE)
• At 9:00 p.m., F1 Time, summary of the F1 test day in Bahrain (LIVE)

The first day of Bahrain F1 2022 testing on DAZN will have Miguel Portillo as narrator and will feature comments from Roldán Rodríguez and Cristóbal Rosaleny in the morning, before a change in the cockpit in the afternoon.

Which drivers will contest each F1 2022 test day in Bahrain?

These are the confirmed lineups for each day in Bahrain.

*Daniel Ricciardo was unable to play any of the first two sessions due to illness

Do engines used in winter testing count for the new season?

No, during pre-season testing teams can trade and use any parts they want. That also applies to the engines and components related to the power unit. Therefore, a damaged engine during the tests does not influence the following season. However, teams must be careful, as for many parts some teams make few or no replacement parts. Therefore, an accident with a lot of damage can cause major problems.

But no, neither the engine failure of Fernando Alonso’s Alpine in Bahrain nor that of Sebastian Vettel’s Aston Martin will lead to future sanctions.

Are the times of the Formula 1 tests in preseason representative?

In general, you should not give too much importance to the times of a winter test. Many factors influence. How much fuel does a driver have in the car on his fastest lap, what engine mode was used and what were the track conditions like? There are many things that play an important role. Therefore, it is difficult to determine the classification based on the results. We’ll only get the first real indication of each other’s pace during qualifying for the first grand prix, when the result really affects the competition.

What is sandbagging in Formula 1? bluff

The literal translation of ‘sandbag’ is sandbag, and it is a term that is heard a lot during all the Formula 1 winter tests. It is about metaphorically throwing sand in the eyes of the competition, that is, not showing all your weapons. Sandbagging is the English expression for this phenomenon, referring to the fictional sandbags that teams “hang” from the car to hide their true speed. In Spanish, the expression “ir de farol” is used, that is, hiding your cards, pretending that you are less good than you really are.

Neither team wants the competition to know more about them than they need to, so they’ll do everything they can to cover up their top speed. There are F1 teams that bluff even during the grand prix, hiding their true pace in free practice and until Q1 and Q2 to hit the first blow on the real table in the definitive Q3 of the classification.

What do the Formula 1 teams test during the pre-season winter tests?

All the teams have their own testing program for the two weeks of testing, but in all cases it is mainly about looking for reliability. The speed search will only start at a later stage. First of all, the teams want to go many kilometers to check if all the systems work and if there are no problems at the beginning. After that, it’s all about collecting data, which is extensively analyzed by the engineers on the circuit and in the factory. This data is collected by means of many sensors in the cars, but also with the well-known ‘grids’ that they place around the car. The drivers give the engineers their first impressions of the behavior on the track and the driving behaviour.

We also regularly see “flo-viz paint” (paraffin, here you can read more) on cars. Flo-viz means “flow visualization” in Spanish. It is a fine liquid that spreads over the bodywork as it passes by the wind during a lap and follows the trajectories of the air currents over the car. That allows the team to quickly see if the aerodynamic elements are working properly and direct the air in the right direction.

This year the teams have a lot of work to do as a new technical regulation is released and after the problems of the first week of testing, the teams will want to check if they have already solved the porpoising created by the cars with ground effect.

Why do F1 teams only take one car to pre-season testing?

To save costs, a few years ago it was decided to put only one car per team on the track during the Formula 1 winter tests. It is an expensive issue to run an F1 car, also due to the large number of personnel required. In addition, the window between the last race of 2021 and the first day of winter testing in 2022 is very short, which can make it difficult for teams, especially smaller ones, to build two cars on time.

Is the fastest in F1 pre-season testing usually the fastest afterwards?