F1 teams will be banned from hiding cars in testing

Formula 1 teams will be banned from guarding their cars during pre-season testing in an attempt to make the events more interesting for fans.

Although teams will seemingly still be able to keep their cars under wraps once racing gets back under way, the test event in Barcelona will be different.

Cars shunting in pre-season is nothing new and is generally followed by teams rushing out to cover the car with sheets, with screens are then put up in front of garages in order to keep the new machines under wraps.

This means that fans can only see the cars when circulating the track, but the chance to see 'naked' cars could well entice more fans to the Circuit de Catalunya for 2020 pre-season.

The World Motor Sport Council also approved a number of other changes to next season's technical and sporting regulations.

In an attempt to avoid some of the farcical race finishes of recent years, the WMSC has approved the "reinstatement of the chequered flag as the definitive end-of-race signal".

An electronic system has been used in recent years, which was thrown out of sync at the 2018 Canadian GP when model Winnie Harlow was prompted to drop the chequered flag early.

This year's Japanese GP was also called a lap short, although the chaotic background of the event amid Typhoon Hagibis meant that error was looked upon with a more forgiving eye.

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