No fans and film crews in Barcelona due to Bahrain's wish

Film crews and fans will not be welcome during the first winter test in Barcelona and it appears that this is due to a wish from Bahrain. According to the Italian branch of Motorsport.com, Bahrain wants to have the first live broadcast of the season.

No fans in Barcelona

This season's Formula 1 season begins with a winter test in Barcelona from February 23 to 25. However, it has soon became clear that a lot will be going on behind the scenes, because unlike for the second test, film crews and fans are not allowed. Only a handful of journalists will be allowed to be present for the first test.

This was arranged by F1 because, according to Motorsport.com, Bahrain wanted to be the first to broadcast the season opening and new cars. That is tricky because the deal with Barcelona has been fixed for some time, but that hasn't stopped F1 from finding a solution.

Bahrain gets preference

For example, the teams were first asked to drive a test livery in Barcelona, so that Bahrain would be the first to feature the new liveries, but the teams said no because they were already tight on time and money. In addition, this would not work because the presentations of the cars prior to the winter test are done with the original livery.

F1 looked for another possibility and came to the solution of not allowing film crews and fans in Spain. This is now seen as a 'shakedown' for all teams, where the test in Bahrain is designated as the official winter test. A week after that, the F1 season also starts with the first race in Bahrain.