The long debate over where to hold 2017's pre-season testing has finally been settled, with the two weeks set to take place in Barcelona and a compromise solution to hold the first in-season test in Bahrain.
Seven of F1's 11 teams wanted to test in Bahrain's warmer conditions next year, ostensibly to help Pirelli understand its tyre compounds ahead of the opening races. Mercedes chairman Niki Lauda was pushing especially hard for the change while Red Bull led the campaign to keep testing in Barcelona as planned.
With deadlock between the teams, the bosses of all 11 outfits met with Bernie Ecclestone in Austin this weekend to discuss a solution.
"There have been numerous debates about this and we had a meeting earlier today with Bernie and a collective of all the teams to discuss winter testing venue," Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said. "The way the regulations are written, to test outside of Europe we would need unanimous agreement from all the teams and that doesn't exist, so it's agreed that we will test in Barcelona in pre-season.
"In order to find a compromise for assisting Pirelli, after the Bahrain race the first of the in-season tests will be in Bahrain. So Niki should get to use his holiday home in Bahrain, which is good news, but thankfully common sense has prevailed."
When Mercedes boss Toto Wolff was asked to confirm Horner's comments, he said: "The holiday home I don't know, but the testing is exactly as he said."
Testing is expected to get underway towards the end of February and extend into March to allow teams to have as much time as possible to develop their all-new 2017 cars. This year Barcelona held the first in-season test after the Spanish Grand Prix, but the two-day test will now take place in Bahrain after the third round of the season.