5 key questions that need answering after first 2026 pre-season test in Bahrain

The first pre-season test in Bahrain may be done and dusted with a four-day gap before the next one, but there’ll be no downing of tools for Formula 1’s 11 teams.

If anything, they’ll be working even harder, burning the midnight oil at their respective factories as they work to understand the reams of data they collected at the desert track over the last three days of running to help hone their plan for next week’s second test.

It’s unwise to read too much into lap times at testing because teams are running different programmes – and they do not reveal what they are doing in order to not give away any competitive advantage.

So that leaves us with plenty of questions, many of which we’ll try to answer based on trends that have emerged and information gathered while roaming the paddock.

Who are the favourites heading to the final test?

That answer depends on who you ask in the paddock. It seems no one wants to have that favourite tag. When I put it to George Russell that Mercedes and he were considered favourites by the bookmakers after their super smooth performance at the Barcelona Shakedown, the Briton brushed it off as speculation and “noise”.

Instead, he points to Red Bull and suggested their advantage was “pretty scary”, with particular praise for their power unit, which is their first ever in Formula 1. Rival Carlos Sainz agreed that the Red Bull Ford is a “step ahead” based on what he saw on GPS data but caveated that by admitting it is still very early days.

Red Bull, though, have moved to play that down – and instead feel that Mercedes are still in the box seat. The Silver Arrows had a tougher couple of days, with a suspension issue and then an anomaly on the engine data costing them vital lap time, before they bounced back on the final day to set the two fastest times.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc reckons Mercedes are not yet showing their true pace, while McLaren boss Andrea Stella, whose team are double reigning World Champions, believes Ferrari and Mercedes are ahead right now.

Ferrari are keeping their cards close to their chest and refusing to talk about performance. One area where they do look strong is when it comes to race starts, as their power unit appears to minimise turbo lag better than everyone else, thus yielding a much smoother and better launch.

We should get a clearer idea next week in the final three-day pre-season test, where teams will dig even deeper into the details and start refining their machines in qualifying and race trim ahead of the season opener in Australia – but we might have to wait three or four races at least to get a real feel for who are the ones to beat.

Just how good is the Red Bull Ford Power Unit?

There’s no doubt Red Bull Ford’s inaugural powertrain has been one of the biggest talking points of pre-season.

The energy drinks firm only started building their own division three-and-a-half years ago – so for them to hit the ground running with a remarkably reliable unit in the back of the Red Bull and Racing Bulls cars has understandably turned heads.

In Barcelona, it was the reliability that impressed everyone. In Bahrain, it was the performance with the way in which they were able to deploy energy for longer and more consistently than all of their rivals.

Mercedes reckon Red Bull were one second quicker on the straights because of that superior deployment, helped in part by its impressive recharge functionality. Word is their gearbox is also a looker, with its strength and efficiency allowing for more aggressive downshifts that in turn allows for more recharge of energy that can be redeployed.

It’s only testing, though, and it could be that Red Bull are moving into performance evaluation because they are a new power unit entrant and they need the data, whereas more experienced engine suppliers either may not yet have started stretching their own units or are instead choosing not to. It’s impossible to know right now.

Are things really that bad at Aston Martin?

Design legend Adrian Newey’s first Aston Martin was arguably the most anticipated 2026 car – and it certainly turned heads when it broke cover late into the Barcelona Shakedown, however, the team have openly admitted they are on the backfoot.

Newey only joined the team in March last year, with all his rivals having already been well into their 2026 projects, and the design guru admitted they were only able to get their first 2026 model in the wind tunnel four months after everyone else. That led to a tighter window to be ready – and it’s why they were late arriving to Barcelona as Newey pushed the limits.

On arrival in Bahrain, they were beset with a series of niggles that limited them to just 202 laps – the fewest of any team – across the three days and that left Team Representative Pedro de la Rosa admitting the team are “clearly behind” and that “it won’t be an overnight fix”.

This is to be expected, though. Aston Martin may have one of the best facilities in the sport, following heavy investment by billionaire owner Lawrence Stroll, but it takes time to make the most of that facility. New technical chiefs Newey and Enrico Cardile, who joined from Ferrari, haven’t even spent a full year with the team yet, while mass recruitment has meant the wider team still needs time to gel.

Aston Martin have struggled to develop their car since Stroll rebranded the team in 2021, with the early part of 2023 when Fernando Alonso took six podiums in the first eight races a rare purple patch rather than the norm – so it would be unrealistic to think they could suddenly react to the massive challenge of 2026 instantly following Newey’s arrival.

They’ve got a new engine too in the shape of Honda, who quit the sport in 2021 and rediverted resources to other parts of the business before changing their mind and committing to Aston Martin a couple of years later. That has meant they have effectively had to start from scratch, which is no mean feat. And they are working with a new fuel supplier in Aramco, who like everyone are producing Advanced Sustainable Fuels for use in the championship for the first time this season.

On top of that, they are making their own gearbox and suspension for the first time – having concluded their relationship with Mercedes following the switch to Honda. Those are significant projects in their own rights.

So yes, they are on the backfoot. And yes, they have an awful lot of work to do. And yes, the start of the year will likely be difficult. But as we’re at the start of a rules cycle, there’s scope to catch up during the season – as Red Bull did when they started 2022 slowly.

Have Williams caught up after missing Barcelona?

Williams had one big mission in Bahrain and that was to run as much as possible after their stuttering start to 2026. The British team failed to make the Barcelona Shakedown following delays in production.

But they recovered by completing a filming day at a damp Silverstone and followed that up with another filming day in Bahrain the day before the first test – and both went smoothly. They then completed more mileage than anyone else (more than 420 laps, which is the equivalent of seven and a half Bahrain Grand Prix distances).

They still have plenty of work to do – the car looked like a bit of a handful at times – and they need to shave off some kilos as the car is overweight, and that’ll be costing them a lot of lap time.

But they have started to catch up on their rivals and, if they can get more of the same mileage next week, it’ll have been an impressive case of damage limitation. But there’s no doubt they are still on the backfoot and have a hill to climb.

How did newcomers Cadillac do?

Cadillac have impressed the Formula 1 paddock with the way they’ve handled themselves on arrival in the sport – and they continued to earn their respect with a very accomplished performance across three days of testing.

Yes, there were niggles – including a throttle issue that hampered Sergio Perez’s running and a cooling problem that delayed Valtteri Bottas – but these are inevitable for a team that has started from a blank sheet of paper and has no historic data to work with.

They still managed more than 1700km, which is around five race distances and more than Alpine, Mercedes and Aston each managed, and that data will be invaluable in helping them prepare for the final test and then their first-ever Formula 1 Grand Prix weekend.

Next week, they will be focusing on race procedures and extracting performance, according to boss Graeme Lowdon while continuing to learn about tyre behaviour, energy management and how to work together as a slick unit across a track day.