Wednesday 28 January at 07:59 : Jan.28 (GMM) BMW-Sauber has decided to join Ferrari and Toyota at the Bahrain circuit for its next winter test

Following the debut of the F1.09 single seater at Valencia last week, the Hinwil based team was scheduled to join the major action at the forthcoming Jerez test

But after hearing of the abysmal weather conditions last week in the usually temperate Algarve region, it is understood that BMW has decided to leave Europe altogether in search of better conditions

With the in-season test ban looming, there are now just a handful of days remaining for teams to prepare their new cars on track for the Australian grand prix and beyond

While most other teams now head for Jerez, Toyota and Ferrari had already scheduled to travel to the desert island of Bahrain, where their test begins on February 10

After fog, rain and even hail ruined the Portimao session last week, Toyota's Timo Glock said: "At least in Bahrain we can expect much better weather and many more laps, which is what we need to develop the new car."n