F1 scraps in-season testing for 2016

Jul.22 (GMM) F1 has scrapped in-season testing for 2016, Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport reports.

And in June, the German magazine Auto Motor und Sport revealed that Jerez had been dropped as a venue for winter testing next year.

It said the pre-season schedule for 2016 has been trimmed for cost reasons from three to just two four-day tests, to both take place in Barcelona next March.

And La Gazzetta dello Sport now claims: "The (two) tests during the season will also be absent for the first time since 2011."

However, official tyre supplier Pirelli is still pushing for more testing, with Auto Motor und Sport saying in June that the marque wants one post-season outing at a warm location, and one wet-weather test probably at Paul Ricard.

The Italian supplier's Paul Hembery admitted Pirelli had missed its target of two or three-stop races in 2015, "but then we have no testing ability.

"We have zero testing ability so it is ok to sometimes ask us to do things," he told Sky, "but we also need the ability to do our job."