Renault and Racing Point set to return to action
The Racing Point and the Renault teams have decided to conduct testing in a bid to get themselves ready for the season-opening Austrian Grand Prix that is scheduled to be held on July 5.
After Formula 1 had announced the first European rounds of the revised 2020 calendar, teams started to prepare themselves for the start of the disrupted championship. Engineers and mechanics returned to the factories to prepare the 2020 cars that are yet to hit the tracks on a race weekend.
Although testing with actual cars are prohibitied, teams also started to exploit their on-track possibilities in order prepare themselves for the safety measures that will be put in place in the opening rounds. Mercedes conducted testing with Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton at Silvertsone on Tuesday and Wednesday while Ferrari are also believed to plan a private test with Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel.
Renault will be the next team to join the two leading outfits with a test session planned for next week. The French manufacturer will run with its 2018 Formula 1 car at the Red Bull Ring in a bid to get itself ready for the delayed 2020 season.
The test will take place on 16-17 June with Daniel Ricciardo performing driving duties on the first day. His teammate Esteban Ocon will drive on the second day of testing which will be particularly beneficial given the fact that it will take place of the location of the opening grand prix.
"A big thank you to all team members who have come together to find logistical solutions to give our drivers the best possible preparation for the first two races of the season in Austria," the Renault statement read.
Racing Point will also practice on the track before the season finally gets underway. Unlike Mercedes, Ferrari or Renault, the Silverstone-based outfit will use its actual 2020 car at the test.
The Sporting Regulations allow teams to use their actual cars on two promotional event days during the entire year. Despite enjoying the benefit of running the current car, teams are limited to 100km on such a test day and must use demonstration-spec tyres.
It is believed that Lance Stroll will sit behind the wheel of the RP20 that has impressed the entire paddock during the pre-season testing with its pure performance and reliability.
Racing Point Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer said that the team wants to find out the limits of its 2020 race car. "We're definitely looking forward to seeing how competitive it is," he is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com.
"I think the first few circuits should be OK for us, even Hungary, and Silverstone should be OK too. Then we're back to Barcelona, and over the winter we looked pretty decent there.
"I think that schedule should bode well for us. So we're very much looking forward to seeing how the car performs and what we can do at each one of those circuits to find the sweet spot and optimise the set-up,” he said.
