McLaren to run young driver test in Abu Dhabi

McLaren intend to join Red Bull and Toro Rosso at Abu Dhabi test session.

The British team have decided against testing at Silverstone following the British Grand Prix in July, in favour of running the test in Abu Dhabi in November.

Many of the teams have opted to run the Silverstone test instead of the Abu Dhabi test for logistical reasons, with the new United States Grand Prix hosting its first event for the first time later this year.

Red Bull and Toro Rosso however had stated that they would be running in Abu Dhabi.

Red Bull's decision was based around them believing it was a fairer time to assess younger drivers after they had finished competing in their current series. While Toro Rosso's decision was based around the cost of supplying engines for the test, for teams who test in mid-season new engines are likely to be used, while towards the end of the season the teams could use engines that have previously been used in races, effectively cutting costs by using engines that otherwise would be scrapped.

McLaren Sporting Director Sam Michael stated that McLaren's thought processes into their decision took the same line as Red Bull's and Toro Rosso's and that because they also came to the same conclusion they would also run in Abu Dhabi.

'Our plan at McLaren at the moment is to test in Abu Dhabi,' he told Sky Sports.

'Engines are a significant factor, as Giorgio [Ascanelli, Toro Rosso's Technical Director] said. 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.

'And also the point that Adrian [Newey, Red Bull chief technical officer] made is very important, I think, because 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.'