The sound of 2026-spec Formula 1 cars reverberated around the Bahrain International Circuit on Wednesday as the much-anticipated opening day of pre-season testing began. Despite some impressive lap counts, it’s way too early to be drawing any concrete conclusions regarding the pecking order, but there were definitely things to be gleaned from the day’s action.
Debutants Cadillac impress on opening day
F1’s newest team Cadillac continued their solid start to life in the sport with Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas completing 107 laps – which is almost two Bahrain Grand Prix distances in the Bahraini desert.
It’s no small task to build an F1 team from scratch, but Cadillac – who only got final confirmation on their entry around a year ago – are doing a great job in their bid to hit the ground running next month in the season-opener in Australia.
They’ve hit all their deadlines, including being one of the first teams to fire up and then shake down their first-ever F1 car, and did a very respectable job through the Barcelona Shakedown.
The form continued into Bahrain, with several teams known to be impressed not only with their approach but also some of the very cool details found on their 2026 challenger.
Meanwhile, speaking to executive engineering consultant Pat Symonds during the lunch break, he said they have a “robust process” in place for in-season development and an “aggressive” development programme as they look to build on their baseline car and add performance through the season.
There’s still plenty to learn for Cadillac, of course, which is why they are keeping their expectations in check and instead just putting their heads down and focusing, but there is no doubt this is a strong start.
Williams get the laps in after missing shakedown
We got our first proper look at Williams’ FW48 as Carlos Sainz rolled out of the garage to complete the morning’s running, with the British team having missed the Barcelona Shakedown (they were the only team to do so) following production delays.
However, they have battled back by completing a shakedown/filming day at a damp Silverstone last week and then completing a second filming day in Bahrain on Monday. On both occasions, they came close to completing the maximum 200km.
Then, on Wednesday, they were super reliable, and following Alex Albon’s afternoon stint they ended the day with 145 laps – more than any other team.
Speaking to us on F1 TV after the session, Team Principal James Vowles said he was pleased to see the car had “no vices” and that they were able to complete such a large tally of laps – but he was keen to play down expectations.
“The drivers’ comments so far are net positive,” added Vowles later on Wednesday. “The balance doesn’t feel as though it’s too far off, and that’s without any set-up work whatsoever, so it gives us a good baseline to start with going into tomorrow.”
Red Bull deliver a strong showing
Max Verstappen got down to business straight away on day one, the four-time World Champion clocking 136 laps – which was the highest tally of any driver.
Unlike their immediate rivals McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes, Red Bull are going through a major change in that they are running not only a new power unit, but it’s one which they have designed themselves for the first time, in conjunction with Ford.
Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff said Red Bull are “the benchmark” right now, adding “they are able to deploy far more energy on the straights than everybody else”.
Speaking after the session, Verstappen gave little away. “We had a good day today; we got in a lot of laps and tested different programmes,” he said.
“Red Bull Ford Powertrains is still a completely new project, compared to others, so there is so much to keep learning and figuring out ahead of the first race.
“We went through a lot of testing procedures that we might run into during a race weekend: this might be more straightforward for a power unit manufacturer who have been in the game a long time, but when you are new you need to test it all.
“Of course, we also did a lot of normal running. Everyone is running completely different programmes, so we are not focusing on lap times and the standings.”
Nonetheless, the reliability of the Red Bull Ford power unit and the impressive mileage Verstappen was able to clock on Tuesday, plus the positive way the car looked like it handled out on track, bodes well for their season ahead.
Mercedes suffer their first visible niggle of pre-season
Mercedes were seamless through the Barcelona Shakedown, which only served to enhance the feeling inside the paddock that they were the ones to beat heading into 2026 – and that meant they could start to focus on car set-up this week. But in doing so, they suffered a first blip in 2026.
While George Russell clocked up nearly a Grand Prix distance in the morning, it has emerged the Silver Arrows had several issues, including a difficult car balance causing what trackside chief Andrew Shovlin described as “challenges with brake locking, poor traction and general inconsistency”.
When Kimi Antonelli took over in the afternoon, he spent a couple of hours in the garage as the team discovered an issue on the suspension when doing various set-up changes – and that required further investigation.
They fixed it in time to get the Italian back out on track for the closing hour, but they only had time to run two sets of the hardest tyre to baseline the car and focus on the long running.
“We’re still learning how the W17 behaves and clearly have a bit of work to do to get back in the right window,” added Shovlin. “Thankfully, we’ve got two more days of running this week and are not short of ideas, so hopefully can take a good step forward tomorrow.”
A first real issue for Mercedes, but that’s what testing is for – and should they get back to piling on the mileage on day two of the three-day test on Thursday, the difficult opening day of the test will quickly be forgotten.
.webp?ssl=1 "Funniest moment, best radio message and much more – F1’s 2025 alternative awards")
