Sport to be mothballed in December, January and February
Wednesday 9 September 2015 13:17, UK
Red Bull have revealed their opposition to F1's controversial winter shutdown which will result in the sport being mothballed through December, January and February.
As a result of the 2016 season's late start and the compressed nature of the record-breaking 21-race calendar, the first of just two pre-season test sessions has been delayed until March.
It means F1 fans will be starved of action for three full months after this November's season-ending, with the sport shutting down for a quarter of a full calendar year.
Although the schedule has been agreed by the teams, it has emerged that the decision wasn't unanimous with Red Bull joining McLaren in confirming they are opposed to the plan.
"For me, it would be better to have some running in February, at least a test or something, because it will be a long time with no news about F1," Red Bull boss Christian Horner told Sky Sports. "Unfortunately we were out-voted on that."
Privately, some of the sport's smaller teams have insisted that McLaren and Red Bull's opposition stems from a vested interest following their recent struggles and the opportunity extra testing would give the two fallen superpowers to close the gap to Mercedes.
However, McLaren driver Fernando Alonso has been particularly vocal in arguing that the restrictions on testing have become too much of a restraint by crippling the potential of a team to make inroads through the course of a year.
"Before we had some freedom in terms of testing and improving the car," the Spaniard said last month. "If you found your car was uncompetitive in the first part of the season, you could still end the year in a competitive way. Now we have our hands tied for the season.
"We run the car in Jerez and Barcelona for the tests and if it's competitive you will have a good season and if it's not you will have a bad season."
In 2014, the first pre-season test was held in late January to provide the teams with additional time to assimilate their new V6 turbo engines. Although Horner stopped short in Spa of confirming that Red Bull have served notice of their intention to end their partnership with Renault at the end of this year, he told reporters that Red Bull were waiting to "hear what Renault's commitments are" before ratifying their own plans for 2016.
While the majority of teams have already begun work on the design and construction of next year's cars, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko was quoted in the German media last week insisting that they could fit a Mercedes engine into their 2016 challenger even if a deal was agreed as late as December.
