Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd
Barcelona has been announced as the venue of pre-season testing for both Formula 2 and the FIA Formula 3 Championship this year.
The latter is introducing a new, the Dallara F3 2025, and teams have already taken delivery of individual chassis but are yet to shake them down.
F3’s sole pre-season test will take place on February 19-21, and it is anticipated the traditional structure of a morning and an afternoon session for each day will be retained.
There will then be a gap of two days before F2 testing on February 24-26. This presents a conundrum of whether teams keep personnel and equipment in proximity to the circuit between the two tests or whether to transport them back to their respective headquarters before then returning to the track. In Formula 1’s support paddock, 10 teams compete in F2 and F3.
Bahrain hosted pre-season testing for both from 2022 to ’24, with F2 also visiting the Middle Eastern track in the two years preceding that. F3 tested there in 2020 too.
F1 has also just announced a new official timekeeper from 2025 onwards, with TAG Heuer taking over from Rolex. However it has not been confirmed if the LVMH-owned brand will also be supplying the timing transponders that are fitted to F2 and F3 cars since the championship share their timing systems with F1’s.
There are still four seats yet to be filled on the 2025 F2 grid, and five in F3 including two each at AIX Racing and Van Amersfoort Racing.