The new 19 race 2006 calendar, starting in Bahrain next March and ending in Brazil on the 22nd of October, was revealed yesterday, the official document cancelling out earlier fears that the FIA were planning to extend it both race wise and length wise with a twenty race agenda ending in November.

Although the entire paddock, from journalists, to mechanics, to caters, drivers and team bosses, are exhausted after this year’s record hectic pace and would have preferred a shorter 2006 season, they are happy that it didn’t extend any further. Red Bull boss Christian Horner is relieved that although there are six back to back events, there are no triple weekends as he had feared….

"There has not been much dialogue with the teams on the calendar but I think it all looks pretty sensible,” Horner said. "To have 19 races is a gruelling calendar for anyone but there are no triple headers, as were feared, and not too many manic back-to-backs. Bahrain and Malaysia to start with will be a tight one but there are no surprises.”

However, that said, Horner did admit that they would rather spend their time at the race track instead of the test track as he considers it a waste of funds, to some degree….

“I think we prefer more racing and less testing and it looks like we will have more racing and more testing now. Doing more races is not really an issue if the calendar is allowed to run later, but testing costs us money for little gain. That said, I think we may come to the conclusion that 19 races is enough.”