EXPLAINED: What to expect from pre-season testing in Bahrain

With car launch season almost complete and the Barcelona Shakedown done and dusted, attention can turn to the next stage of preparations for the 2026 campaign with official pre-season testing in Bahrain. This year, teams will get six days of track time to learn more about their machines before the curtain-raiser in Australia in just under a month's time. Here's a little more about what to expect from the upcoming running in the desert.

Ah, Bahrain. That's familiar testing territory for pre-season testing. Tell me more...

Ha, it is indeed. The Bahrain International Circuit in the Bahraini desert has become a testing staple in recent years. This year, the running has doubled from three days to six to give teams more time to learn about their vastly different cars, built to sweeping new chassis and Power Unit rules.

This is music to our ears – the more track time the better, we say...

I think you'll find the drivers and teams will agree with you, especially this year as there is just so much to learn with these new cars.

Not one single bolt has been carried over from last year, so they are all genuinely learning about their new machines from scratch.

Yes, they will have done plenty of simulation work in the wind tunnel and in CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics), but nothing beats real-life running.

OK, gotcha. So, when are the tests?

The first one kicks off on Wednesday February 11, two days after Aston Martin and McLaren officially launch their seasons in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain respectively.

The second one follows on Wednesday February 18. Each test will run from 0900 local until 1800 local with a one-hour lunch break. So that's around eight hours of track time per day.

Lovely stuff. That's my schedule sorted for those six days, then. Will all the teams be there?

You bet they will. Ten of the 11 made it to the Barcelona Shakedown and Williams will make it the full set in Bahrain, having successfully hit the track for the very first time last week with a shakedown at a damp Silverstone.

How will the teams split the running?

As each team only runs one car, it means the drivers have to share the driving duties. They will get one-and-a-half days each, which is loosely 12 hours of track time, per test.

Some teams will run a driver for a full day and then split the third day, others will split the running between both drivers every day.

Teams will utilise the one-hour lunch break to change the car over to the next driver's settings to minimise lost track time or use it to make tweaks for the afternoon's running.

What are the purposes of these tests?

Teams used the Barcelona Shakedown to give their new machines a first proper run out. It was a chance to test software and hardware worked as expected and learn about new concepts like active aero (this year the flaps on the front wing as well as the rear wing will open) and start to understand their new set of tools, which include Boost, Overtake and Recharge.

Things are set to get more serious in Bahrain. Teams will start to push their cars harder, to test reliability, prepare to run the car across a race weekend and start to look at performance.

They'll run different set-ups and learn more about the new-for-2026 tyre compounds – and you'll see plenty of practice starts, too, as several drivers – including World Champion Lando Norris - have said they expect them to be trickier this year so they'll want to get some practice in.

Generally, there will be a lot of data gathering to be done so that they can crunch those numbers and use the results to help inform how to prepare the car for the opening few races.

Gotcha. How different will the cars we see in Bahrain be to those we saw in Barcelona?

It'll vary, to be honest. Some teams like McLaren have said that the car you saw in Barcelona will largely be the one you'll see in Bahrain and then Race 1 in Australia.

For others, like Ferrari, you'll see differences as they brought a 'spec-A' type car to Barcelona with the intention of adding upgrades in Bahrain. This is definitely one of the many exciting things to watch out for in testing.

And as there's a four-day gap between the two tests, this will give the teams chance to dig into the data and make tweaks for the second test.

Ooooooh, this is intriguing. I guess it'll be difficult to get a real read on the true pecking order, then?

Yep, it will be, especially as teams will be running vastly different programmes – as they always do in testing. For example, around 10kg of fuel is worth around 0.3s per lap so varying fuel loads is just one metric that will distort the time sheets, which is why it would be unwise to read too much into it.

But we will get some signs of who might be looking good, right?

Yes, we'll start to get a sense of how everyone is getting on. The more mileage you do, the more data you have to work with to prepare for the start of the season – so that's a good sign. The less you do – or the more stoppages you have – suggests you have a bit more work to do.

We'll also hear more from the drivers about how they are getting on with using the new modes, like Boost, Overtake and Recharge, and how they are finding following other rivals with this year's nimbler machines – and that'll help shape feelings heading to Melbourne.

Super. So how do I follow these tests?

The last hour of each day of running in the first Bahrain test will be streamed live, with an analysis show broadcast straight after. There will be a plethora of written, social and video content across F1 channels (F1.com, F1's social media and F1 TV), digging into the key storylines and tech stories, too.

For test two, things ramp up a notch with live coverage of every single minute of on-track running across all three days. There'll be a pre- and post-show, plus an assortment of additional analysis in video and text form.

Wonderful. And then it's onto Australia!

Absolutely. The teams will head back to base and have around a week before the cars are sent to Australia for the opening race of the season on March 6-8, with China following back-to-back the week after.