A tight fight at the front, midfield momentum for Haas and Alpine, and serious trouble for Aston Martin.
Formula 1’s protracted pre-season running is over after three days in Barcelona and six in Bahrain, meaning the next track activity will be at the Australian Grand Prix. So, what’s been going on?A top four, but in what order?The top four teams spent most of the first test pointing at each other in terms of who was fastest, akin to that Spider-Man meme, with Mercedes talking up Red Bull and its power unit, Red Bull reckoning Mercedes was hiding something, McLaren suggesting it was only fourth-best behind the works teams, and Ferrari insisting it too wasn’t the best.
There’s always the caveat that the test has happened at one track, largely in one type of weather conditions, meaning the upcoming circuits with different characteristics and different conditions could throw up fresh headaches. For what it’s worth, Charles Leclerc used the C4 tires to set the fastest time in the cooler evening conditions on the final day of running, though fuel loads, run plans, and the absence of others doing the same thing makes everything gloriously hypothetical. The biggest draw was the reverse-flipping rear wing that Ferrari introduced on the SF-26, as teams seek to push the boundaries as usual. In what could have been a statement made by AI, Leclerc said that “in terms of performance, it’s still difficult to understand where we really stand because teams are hiding their true form, so it’s important not to focus too much on lap times and prepare for the first race.”Mercedes wasn’t bulletproof, with Kimi Antonelli stopping the W17 on track on the final day, but it also looks in a good spot. “We have looked in the mix with several of our rivals near the front but it’s clear, with Ferrari topping the times and McLaren and Red Bull Racing being right on their tails, that we need to continue working hard to bring more performance,” said Mercedes’ George Russell. “It’s looking like it will be a close fight in Melbourne and we hope to be a part of that.”McLaren had a minor chassis issue on the final day but reckons it is in a good spot, but not up top, as it chases a third straight crown. “I think we’ll be in the big four—I don’t think we’re in the front of the big four, but it’s going to be a long season with a lot of development,” said McLaren CEO Zak Brown. Red Bull chief Laurent Mekies rightly praised Red Bull Powertrains for its relatively smooth pre-season as a start-up manufacturer, before duly towing the usual line.“Even with all our technology and simulation tools, everyone will only start to get a partial idea of the pecking order down the pit lane after Saturday’s qualifying session in Albert Park,” Mekies said.At this stage you could make a convincing argument for any one of those four teams winning in Melbourne—which is a great thing to write.Haas leading the midfield?The new rules means the field has spread out a little, particularly compared to the competitive 2025 season. The top four teams are expected to have a buffer behind, but in that pack could be another close battle, with Haas, Racing Bulls, and Alpine in the mix. Haas team boss Ayao Komatsu was lifted by the progress the team made with its VF-26, explaining that “we’ve completed two race simulations which is a very good effort. The real challenge starts now ahead of the first race in Melbourne, but as a team, especially being the smallest team, I think we can be proud of ourselves and how we got here.”Ollie Bearman labelled Haas’ progress across the test as “super impressive” while Esteban Ocon was also buoyed by the absence of any major issues.Racing Bulls’ Team Principal Alan Permane described its test as “very positive,” with only a few minor issues, as rookie Arvid Lindblad logged a record 165 laps on the final day. “It’s fair to say I’m feeling pretty tired,” was Lindblad’s acceptable and succinct summary. Alpine, which was rock bottom last year, looks set to move up the order a tad, aided by its switch to Mercedes power.“We have a reasonable package and a good baseline to work from, at least for the first few races of the season,” said Managing Director Steve Nielsen.Williams’ slow start, having missed Barcelona’s shakedown, means it is braced for a more challenging opening phase. “We have work to do,” said boss James Vowles. “There's no doubt about it. We've put ourselves on the back foot,” while Carlos Sainz accepted that “we go into the first half of the year with lower expectations than 2025 knowing that we’ll be starting slightly on the back foot.”Aston Martin is in big troubleWhen does a problem become a crisis? Well, Aston Martin is certainly teetering towards that perspective. The first Adrian Newey-designed Honda-powered Aston Martin has been slow and unreliable, stymied by its delayed start, and every problem is costing critical track time. When the AMR26 was able to run, it was off the pace and wayward, hampered by Honda’s battery issues and a shortage of components. This is still a new project—an aspect the team has strived to regularly emphasize—but for a team with title ambitions, simply getting to the end of the race in Melbourne, let alone be competitive, looks an uphill task. The AMR26, after all, managed just six laps on the last test day.“We are not happy with our performance and our reliability at the moment,” said Honda’s Shintaro Orihara, trackside general manager, which is something of an understatement. It’s easy to forget that Honda is effectively a new manufacturer , given how its project merged into RBPT and it mothballed its existing structure before its U-turn. But even accounting for that setback, it’s gone badly. Said Aston Martin’s representative Pedro de la Rosa: “Definitely we are not where we wanted to be. We have been the team with the number of laps during pre-season testing. We would have preferred to do a lot more. But despite the fact that we haven’t done a lot of laps, we have an enormous amount of data to look into and to prepare ourselves for Australia.Aston Martin is still learning huge chunks with each run, as is Honda about its power unit, but the problem is those runs are few and far between all while rivals are racking up the knowledge bank. Hopefully for Fernando Alonso this isn’t 2015 part 2. If so, go and get the deckchairs. Cadillac slow but competentSo far Cadillac is performing as expected—off the pace, occasionally unreliable, but perfectly respectable and competent. No one expects a start-up operation to come in and immediately start threatening the established outfits, but it looks as if Cadillac is in the ballpark to be a sturdy backmarker. It completed 280 laps, had some short runs, longer runs, and its best effort was 3.3 seconds off the ultimate pace—albeit with the caveat that Leclerc’s benchmark was on softer tires when the track was at its best. “A few small issues here and there, just like any other Formula 1 team, but all in all we can be very happy with the progress that we’ve made,” said team boss Graeme Lowdon. “We’ve got a good baseline package that sets us up well for our first race in Melbourne. It’s a massive achievement to get to where we are now, and I’m extremely grateful and proud of everyone in the team for all their hard work.”Audi solidly chipping awayWhile not a new team, given its heritage as Sauber, Audi has had a quietly encouraging pre-season. It hasn’t stolen the attention as a new PU marque like Red Bull Powertrains, but given the manner in which Honda’s problems have unfolded, Audi has solidly worked away at matters. It is likely that Audi is in a gap between the midfield and the backmarkers, which would be a fine position to occupy given the newness of the PU project and the potential hurdles. “The mileage we have achieved and the way the organisation has responded to every challenge over the past two months give me great encouragement,” said team boss Jonathan Wheatley. “There is still a substantial job list heading into the season. We have made strong progress over the past two weeks, but we are under no illusion about the task ahead or the level of competition we will face in Melbourne.”Starts are catching the eyeThe new power units means the starting procedure has altered for drivers, with the different teams and manufacturers still trying to unlock the optimum approach. The absence of the MGU-H means more time is needed to spool the turbo, and the FIA evaluated a tweaked countdown procedure, with slightly more time on the grid before the lights come on. Through a handful of practice starts, there were vast differences in how the cars got off the line, albeit with the caveat that the reams of data and further practice opportunities in Melbourne may alleviate concerns. What was noteworthy was how strong the Ferrari-powered cars were off the line, hinting that it may be a weapon in its armory at a critical juncture of a grand prix. “To win a race you’ve also got to get off the line quite well, and I think the two starts I’ve made were worse than my worst-ever start in Formula 1,” said Mercedes’ George Russell. F1 set for more SprintsF1 CEO and President Stefano Domenicali held a lengthy briefing during testing, the crux of which focused on pleading patience amid any criticism of the new regulations. The impact of the rules means there’s no tweaks to the grand prix format in 2026, but from 2027 there are likely to be changes, with Domenicali keen to ensure Friday running at events is more meaningful. F1 continues to push for an expansion of Sprint events from six to 12 from 2027, with Domenicali insisting promoters all want to have the mini-race. A season launch could return next year given that the championship will revert to one pre-season test, while the calendar continues to take shape. We already know that Zandvoort will drop after 2026, and Barcelona will not feature in 2027 owing to its rotation deal, and while Portimao will return that still leaves one vacancy. That could go to Turkey’s Istanbul Park, with Domenicali hinting “stay tuned” when asked about those rumors.
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