Driver line-ups for the 2020 F1 pre-season test sessions 
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After the uncommonly sober car launches of the past few weeks, with the exception of that of the new Ferrari that is, the engines are now ready to roar. The expectation and press releases are giving way to the action on the track. This Wednesday is the first of the 2020 F1 pre-season test sessions. 

There will be six days of tests in total, two less than usual, divided into two different weeks: Form the 19th to the 21st and from the 26th to the 28th. This is a crucial stage for the teams. After all of the engineering work of the winter months behind closed doors, the time has come to see if the data obtained at the simulators and wind tunnels yield the desired results on the track. 

The new vehicles, and despite this being a sort of transitional season before the regulatory upheaval expected in 2021, they have undergone some significant changes.

https://twitter.com/MercedesAMGF1/status/1229020649324269568

The 2020 F1 pre-season test sessions in Spain will, therefore, be key to see if those, mostly aerodynamic improvements, have the desired effect. Most scuderias, however, have already had a chance to see their machines in action during the filming days. During those sessions, which are intended for marketing purposes, cars can complete a maximum of one hundred kilometres.

Those commercial events become a sort of shakedown, in which teams can make a start on their basic check-ups of the different elements and features of their new cars. In that way, they can gain some precious training time as the jobs that they traditionally carried out on the first day of testing have already been done. Even more so considering they have two days less of training than usual in the 2020 F1 pre-season test sessions at the circuit in Montmeló.

 

https://twitter.com/redbullracing/status/1230101042794246144

The team to kickstart the series of filming days was Red Bull. Max Verstappen took the wheel of the RB16 on the 12 of February at the Silverstone Circuit.  Mercedes  turn came a couple of days later with its brand new W11 driven by Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton. The favourite car on the grid came out on the English track minutes after being unveiled.

The new Alpha Tauri, former Toro Rosso, first trialled their spectacular AT01 on the 15th of February at the Italian circuit of Misano. The other scuderias also holding filming days before their training in Catalonia have been McLaren with its MCL35 (16th of February), Williams and its FW43 (17th of February) and Renault with their RS20 (17th of February).

 

https://twitter.com/AlphaTauriF1/status/1230129758308098050

As for the changes in the line-ups, Robert Kubica has joined Hass from Williams as a test pilot. Taking his place is the Canadian Nicholas Latifi who arrives from Formula 2. Finally, Frenchman Esteban Ocon will drive for Renault after a year off the track.

2020 F1 pre-season test sessions

                         WEDNESDAY 19             THURSDAY 20           FRIDAY 21
Mercedes        Bottas / Hamilton
Ferrari              Leclerc                            Leclerc / Vettel            Leclerc
Red Bull          Verstappen                      Albon                           Verstapen/Albon
McLaren          Sainz                               Norris                           Norris/Sainz
Renault           Ocon/ Ricciardo              Ricciardo/ Ocon         Ocon/Ricciardo
AlphaTauri      Kvyat                               Gasly                            Kvyat/Gasly
R. Point           Pérez/ Stroll                    Pérez                            Lance Stroll
A. Romeo        Kubica/ Giovinazzi         Räikkönen                   Giovinazzi
Haas                Magnussen                     Grosjean                      Grosjean/Magnu.
Williams          Russell/ Latifi                 Russell                         Latifi

 2020 F1 pre-season test sessions: Mercedes AMG.

 

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