Formula Motorsport Limited
Formula 2 and fellow Formula 1 support series FIA Formula 3 Championship will grow their testing schedules for 2021 after this year’s planned pre-season and in-season running was impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
A calendar split means the series won’t be sharing paddocks in 2021, with a decreased number of rounds for each brought in as a cost-cutting measure.
There was only one pre-season test for both series in 2020, but FIA F3 will expand to hosting three next year.
Former Spanish Grand Prix venue Jerez kicks off proceedings on February 25/26, with teams then returning to Spain a month later at Barcelona, which hosts the season opener, on March 16/17. The third test is at the Red Bull Ring, another circuit to appear on the 2021 calendar, and takes place on April 3/4.
F2 travels out to Bahrain for its sole pre-season test over three days on March 9-11, just over two weeks before racing for the year starts at the circuit.
Before round two on the Monaco street circuit, there is an in-season three-day test at Barcelona on April 21-23. F2 had planned to run a test before and after its first round this year, but only achieved the former before the pandemic arrived.
Reliability concerns did mean the series held a shakedown day between the first two rounds at the Red Bull Ring though.
It then hosted a three-day post-season test at Bahrain, while FIA F3 held two tests in Spain after the conclusion of its season and teams have been testing privately with old GP3 cars since then.
2021 Formula 2 Test Schedule
9-10-11 March Sakhir
21-22-23 April Barcelona
2021 FIA Formula 3 Test Schedule
25-26 February Jerez
16-17 March Barcelona
3-4 April Spielberg