With the new Formula 1 season days away, Motorsport Week concludes its debrief of the recent pre-season testing programme in Bahrain.
After two weeks of on-track action, F1’s pre-season testing programme in Bahrain concluded amid a flurry of further talk on compression units, a potential rule-change, start procedure high jinks and considerable improvements made by some teams, as well as the usual sandbagging accusations and counter-accusations, as the guessing game of what outfit is currently pulling the blankest poker face.
Start line shenanigans
Day One saw George Russell come out on top, in terms of lap time and lap count, as Mercedes continued to look like the benchmark, with its controversial power unit. McLaren looked to gain some respectability and did so via Oscar Piastri’s competitive lap times. Lance Stroll beached the Aston Martin, as the growing pains of the AMR26 continued, causing further grimaces on the faces of those in British Racing Green.
Max Verstappen was the only driver who did not participate on the opening day, arriving at the Bahrain International Circuit with father Jos early in the afternoon, leaving the entirety of Red Bull duty to new team-mate Isack Hadjar.
With a mock starting procedure taking place at the end of the day, a whole new dynamic of pre-season testing was established. With drivers allowed to use ‘active aero’ off the line, fears were made clear, as it appeared that some cars just did not have the capacity to get off the line as well as others.
Race starts now require a perfect balance of energy harvesting and winding up of the turbo, and early indications are that some of the big hitters are just not launching that well, with Russell saying that one of his starts were worse than any of the actual Grand Prix starts in his career.
The general consensus was that the active aero concerns will lead to an abandonment of its usage at the start, with Piastri telling media including Motorsport Monday: “A pack of 22 cars with a couple 100 points less downforce sounds like a recipe for disaster to me.”
One noticeable difference I had noticed was the mood and demeanour of Lewis Hamilton. Often morose, withdrawn and uninterested in 2025, there was a significant shift in attitude. A bounce in his step, an unforced smile on his face and sharing classroom-like giggles with old adversary Verstappen in the press conference, the seven-time World Champion spoke candidly about how he feels “connected” to the Scuderia’s new SF-26, due to having “my DNA” in it.
A big, potentially title-changing moment came from the FIA, with the announcement that PUMs will receive a vote on changing the rules on measuring compression ratios, the big contentious issue of the winter. If voted for, the compression ratios will also be measured in operative temperatures, in addition to the ambient temperatures are currently in the rulebook, from August, meaning that the Dutch Grand Prix will see a stringent look at the controversial Mercedes PU, and potentially spark ‘a season of two halves’.
Ferrari rear wing puts me in mind of a rotisserie
Andrea Kimi Antonelli went fastest on Day Two, and Piastri was not far behind, with Verstappen around three tenths behind in third.
For Aston Martin, the increasing problems bubbling under the surface began to show themselves even further in the faces of everyone. Fernando Alonso broke down in the afternoon, which abruptly ended his race simulation, and caused ramifications for the final day.
The big talk of the day was Ferrari and an interesting development to the SF-26. Hamilton completed only five laps before pulling into the pits and ending the team’s interest of the morning. But in what was effectively the only hot lap of the five, the flap on the rear wing rotated 180 degrees. At first glance, the action of the ‘flip wing’ reminded me of watching the rotisserie in a kebab shop after a night of heavy drinking, but there was no doubting the impression it made on anyone, whether the results have proved effective or not.
Hamilton went back out in the afternoon and completed an impressive tally of laps and duly set the fourth-fastest lap. There is considerable intrigue in whether the flip wing will return in Melbourne, but managed to achieve one thing that proved far more conclusive in the favour of the Ferrari. In another mock race start, Hamilton, effectively starting on what would be the third row of the grid, launched and by the first corner, was ahead of those in-front of him. If the start is representative of what the Ferrari can manage, then it will be a particularly useful tool on tracks where overtaking will prove harder.
Aston packs up early as Leclerc goes for a glory lap
The day started on a downcast note, with Aston Martin confirming that Alonso’s Thursday issue would render an end to its running, with just a handful of laps completed. With power unit issues continuing and a shortage of parts, there will be a fraught work schedule in both Silverstone and Japan to get the car at least race-ready.
Whilst every glum expression on the faces of Newey, Lawrence Stroll and both its drivers will be overanalysed by every amateur body language expert marauding through social media, there is no doubt that the team is in a dark place, but when you scratch beneath the surface, the reality is that Honda are re-entering F1 at the toughest time, with Aston now beginning new tasks, like building its own gearbox, for the first time there is little surprise about the place its currently in. In a sense, it feels that with the expectations on both Newey and Honda to deliver, Aston have been expected to sprint in what is a complicated marathon.
Mercedes continued to look the fastest overall, but some questions began to be raised about its reliability, with Antonelli breaking down in the morning. Its long run pace still seemed adequate, something that McLaren admitted to lacking, losing one of its key strengths in its dominant 2025 double-championship triumphs.
Ferrari’s long run pace looked impressive, and with confidence raised already, Leclerc opted to set the fastest fastest time of the week, which felt like a ‘glory run’. But in summary, Ferrari appeared confident and assured about its machine. It’s fair to admit that in 2025, pre-season saw it largely placed as the second-best team behind McLaren, and ultimately amounted to nothing, as it failed to win a single Grand Prix and contributed to the worst season of Hamilton’s career. But both he and Leclerc seemed to act as if there is something that we don’t know. Something good. Something far from 2025.
Red Bull has appeared to accept that it is the fourth-best, but given the bar was set very low last year, Verstappen might have cause to feel that his ‘Formula E on steroids’ car might help him to a victory or two, something that was inconceivable when its in-house powertrain mission with Ford began.
Mercedes is now aware that it potentially has the first half of the year to make hay whilst the sun is shining and whilst it is the lead character in the main plot, many story lines have now been added to the script which is sure to make the 2026 season far more entertaining than any potential sequel to F1: The Movie.
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