Why McLaren is testing at Abu Dhabi instead of Silverstone

McLaren sporting director Sam Michael has confirmed McLaren carry out their young driver test in Abu Dhabi rather than at Silverstone.

The test has usually taken place after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, but some teams are planning to test at Silverstone after the British GP, due to logistical problems of getting from the United Arab Emirates to the new United States Grand Prix in Texas.

Red Bull and stable-mate Toro Rosso have also state their intension to run in Abu Dhabi.

Red Bull's Adrian Newey stated that it was better to assess young drivers at the end of a season rather than in the middle of one and Giorgio Ascanelli of Toro Rosso added that he was worried about the stress the test could put on engines, which teams are limited to just eight of throughout the season.

Speaking at last weekend's Spanish Grand Prix, Michael confirmed McLaren are not planning on running at Silverstone.

"Our plan at McLaren at the moment is to test in Abu Dhabi," Michael said.

"We're not testing at Silverstone for all those reasons. Engines are a significant factor. If you want to test at the end of the year, you have so many part-mileage engines with the race team that all have a little bit of mileage on them so you can effectively do it for free, in terms of your race engines.

"If you try and do that in the middle of the year, you can't use your race engines so you have to prepare a special test engine.

"(Also) if you try and have it in the middle of the year, and run your young drivers, then you are running them in the middle of their championship year so you to be at the end, so that they have finished their Formula 3 or Formula 2 or whatever they're doing and they have the capacity to concentrate on their Formula One test." Sporting Life

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