Pre-Season Testing [Bahrain]

[Nitrodaze]

The shakedown testing of Barcelona has whetted our appetites for F1 racing to resume. While the test showed that Mercedes has the edge over the rest of the grid, Ferrari's pace suggested that there might be more to what we saw than meets the eye.

The Bahrain test is where the cars would be driven in anger. The driver would be exploring the limits of their car to determine if they have the car under them that gives them a realistic chance of fighting for the driver's title this season.

The pecking order, as it were, shall be exposed by the end of the Bahrain test. And the stark reality of the prospect of each team shall dawn upon them as they head to Melbourne for the Australian GP.

I hope for a change; it is closer than previous seasons. One thing is certain: it would be vicious in the midfield. Racing Bull and Haas are well primed. Williams and Alpine would definitely be challenged strongly. It is unclear where Aston Martin would be located in all of this. But it would not be surprising if the usual order of things is shaken up somewhat.


Check out this article to read more: The 2026 Renaissance (https://medium.com/motor-racing/2026-f1s-season-of-renaissance-a90da482eb7a)

[Matthew]

Testing kicked off with a few early clues about the season. Lando ended up fastest (https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12433/13505835/f1-bahrain-testing-lando-norris-tops-timesheet-on-first-day-but-max-verstappens-red-bull-impresses-rivals), Max second and Charles third, which already gives us something to talk about. If you want to get a sense of what teams are really doing on track and why times don’t tell the full story, this guide (https://www.fanamp.com/articles/f1-2026-pre-season-testing-explained) to 2026 pre-season testing explains it all. McLaren and Red Bull look strong again, while a few others are clearly still figuring things out.

[Nitrodaze]

Testing kicked off with a few early clues about the season. Lando ended up fastest (https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12433/13505835/f1-bahrain-testing-lando-norris-tops-timesheet-on-first-day-but-max-verstappens-red-bull-impresses-rivals), Max second and Charles third, which already gives us something to talk about. If you want to get a sense of what teams are really doing on track and why times don’t tell the full story, this guide (https://www.fanamp.com/articles/f1-2026-pre-season-testing-explained) to 2026 pre-season testing explains it all. McLaren and Red Bull look strong again, while a few others are clearly still figuring things out.

Dusty and windy in the morning session. Lots of lock-up and spins. Surprisingly, reliability is higher than I expected. The best lap of the day was a good six seconds shy of the qualifying time of last season. And two seconds slower than the fastest lap of the first day of testing last year.

Clues of the pecking order are still unclear.

[F1nKS]

Day 2

May not still know the pecking order, but we are seeing the "haves and have-nots".

[b]The Haves[/quote]

Ferrari
McLaren
Red Bull

[b]The Maybe[/quote]
Mercedes - I wonder if they are sandbagging in the hopes the engine controversy goes away?
Haas
Audi
Alpine

[b]Have-nots[/quote]
Williams
Cadillac
Aaston Martin
Racing Bulls

Max - says he hates the 2026 car. Complains F1 is just Formula E on steroids, the "anti-racing" regulations may have him walk away from Formula 1.

Aston Martin - Newey magic does not look to be real.

Hamilton has called the 2026 cars "ridiculously complex."

[F1nKS]

Day 2

May not still know the pecking order, but we are seeing the "haves and have-nots".

The Haves

Ferrari
McLaren
Red Bull

The Maybe
Mercedes - I wonder if they are sandbagging in the hopes the engine controversy goes away?
Haas
Audi
Alpine

Have-nots
Williams
Cadillac
Aaston Martin
Racing Bulls

Max - says he hates the 2026 car. Complains F1 is just Formula E on steroids, the "anti-racing" regulations may have him walk away from Formula 1.

Aston Martin - Newey magic does not look to be real.

Hamilton has called the 2026 cars "ridiculously complex."

[Nitrodaze]

Mercedes is definitely sandbagging. They are at least 6 tenths ahead of everyone on. the same tyre. I think the whole engine debacle is causing them to sandbag.

The order that is shaping up is

Mercedes
Ferrari
Redbull
McLaren
Alpine
Haas or Racing Bulls
Williams
Aston Martin
Audi
Cadillac

But this may change by the end of Day 3. It may not be the order when we arrive at Melbourne also.

Mind you, the qualifying time from last season was 1:29.841. Russell's time this morning is 1:33.918, which is four seconds behind. There is still a lot of ground to catch up. If Russell's time turns out to be the fastest lap possible with these new 2026 cars, then the speed has been severely reduced to near F2 level, which is very bad for F1. It would mean the FIA has got the 2026 regulation very wrong. They have tweaked away the speed of F1.