The new Formula One year has started and as much as the drivers are excited to get back into their routine, fans all over the world are excited to see what's ahead.
Pre-season testing this year is taking place in Bahrain at Bahrain International Circuit.
In the past Barcelona has been the home of pre testing but since 2021 Bahrain has been the new start.
The sessions are split into two, one half being the morning for four hours and the other half, four hours in the afternoon.
Over the 10 teams they can only run one car throughout per team.
Throughout the tests all of the cars are able to run on five different choices of compound tyres but in the official races they will only be able to race on the original three compounds: medium, hard and soft.
This allows the car to feel any changes within the Pirelli tyres who have been providing tyres for Formula One since the 50's.
Pirelli carried out their tyre test in Barcelona at the start of February, to help with reducing overheating which Hamilton and Alonso took part in.
So why do we have pre-season testing?
It creates a buzz from us viewers to see the cars on the track for the first time and be excited for race weekends ahead.
Pre-season testing helps try new tires and see how many potential tires their car will need through racing and what they can take from them.
They can have an idea within the garage how easy qualifying will be and where the car will sit on the grid.
Will they be playing at the front or the back?
It is difficult to test where a car's pace is during pre-testing as all the teams are driving on high fuel which isn't realistic on the actual race day.
Most important of all is to drive the car for the first time and find any problems that they could have faced during the race weekend.
This makes engineers keep learning and always on the ball.
The most strategic way to get the most out of pre-testing is to maximise their time on the track and minimise their time in the garage.
Now sandbagging.
If you don't know what sandbagging is, it is when teams gain advantages by hiding their true performance involving their own test plans leaving everyone with their true reading first in the qualifying race.
Many drivers have different opinions on pre-testing, some positive and some negative being that there isn't enough time to prepare for the season within three days.
But is Bahrain a perfect fit for pre-testing?
Now it has been starting the Formula One year off for the last three years but is that to say that it works best?
Firstly the weather in Bahrain is always expected to be very hot and dry which can cause issues for the cars tyres as they are faced with difficult comparisons with the heat disturbing airflow which is essential for racing.
Not only with temperatures being high the track is rough making the car work differently compared to other tracks.
Despite the weather conditions for racing, Sakhir allows consistency for the teams, whereas the weather in Barcelona was unpredictable with cold temperatures and even rain at times.
And the most obvious reasons are costs.
They can be controlled more easily and environmental concerns are diminished as equipment is already there and garages too.
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