Testing to take place February 18-21 and February 26-March 1
Tuesday 4 December 2018 16:32, UK
F1 pre-season testing in 2019 will take place at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya with two four-day meetings.
The first on-track outings for next year's new cars will take place on Monday February 18 with the first test finishing on Thursday February 21.
The second test will take place from Tuesday February 26, ending on Friday March 1 - precisely two weeks before first practice for the season-starting Australian GP.
Every F1 race, qualifying and practice session in 2019 will be shown live on Sky Sports F1.
F1 in 2019: Schedule and line-ups
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Why the earlier date?
In the winter of 2018, F1 testing begun on February 26 and ended on March 9.
2019's earlier start for testing reflects the season itself commencing earlier: the Australian GP, the season's traditional curtain raiser has been brought forward for March 15-17.
In all, the 2019 F1 season will feature 21 races, concluding on December 1 in Abu Dhabi.
Why does F1 always test at Barcelona?
The Circuit de Catalunya has become F1's established winter base over the past two decades and every team and driver will already be minutely aware of its challenges and variations.
Situated on the northern outskirts of Barcelona, the circuit's location is one of its most attractive qualities. Relatively cheap and accessible, the teams can easily ship in spare parts overnight to be ready for the next day's running without undue hassle.
But it's the circuit itself which perhaps offers the single most powerful reason for its ubiquitous presence on the winter calendar.
Although notoriously lean on overtaking opportunities when it hosts the Spanish GP, the Circuit de Catalunya is recognised as offering an all-round test of a car and its aerodynamic prowess with a mixture of left- and right-handed corners alongside a range of slow- and high-speed corners and a long start-finish straight.
However, testing this year at Barcelona was beset by bad weather, with extremely cold conditions hampering running and a snow storm all-but causing Day Three of Test One to be written off.
But a proposal to switch testing to Bahrain, which would have required the unanimous support of the teams, was shelved in favouring of remaining in Barcelona.
Sky Sports F1 is the only place to watch every Formula 1 Grand Prix, qualifying and practice session live in 2018. Get Sky Sports F1.
