The reboot of Formula 1 for the 2026 season hasn’t yet gone to plan. The introduction, specifically of a 50/50 split between combustion and electric, has so far been highly contentious.
While the chassis side of the regulations has been lauded as progressive and a step in the right direction for the sport, the same sentiment is not shared for the power unit. As a start, the pre-season testing in Bahrain has already shown the cars to be quite a bit slower than in 2025. It should be noted that most teams focused on reliability and setup runs at the cost of pure performance runs.
Still, most of the reason for this seems to rest on the need for energy management. Most, if not all, drivers are reportedly unhappy about having to slow down in certain areas of the track in order to recharge the battery. How much of the ‘issue’ is the electrical charging and re-charging? Drivers applying boost saw their battery completely depleted halfway down the Sakhir International circuit start/finish straight. It’s a fairly big issue. The ability to recharge batteries more quickly will be circuit-dependent and will depend on how much progress engineers can make in the coming months.
But what about the pecking order? Here follows the traditional caveat: while pre-season testing provides some information about car performance, it should always be considered for what it is – testing. Still, even with this cautionary warning well in mind, there are some things to be gleaned from what was seen in Bahrain.
READ MORE HERE: F1 2026: Pre-season testing, Week 1
There is a clear analysis that shows Ferrari as having a stable platform. Especially under braking, the 2026 Ferrari seems to be excelling, and their consistent performance in Bahrain places the Scuderia within touching distance of the sharp end of the grid. Mercedes also completed a highly impressive pre-season test, and many would put money on them in the early part of the season. The Merc power unit has performed especially well, and on acceleration out of corners looks to be a cut above the rest.
Red Bull were somewhat under the radar and rather more solid than spectacular. While there was no clear read on their race pace, their aero performance looked satisfactory if a tad heavy on front-end downforce. The reigning champions, McLaren, have the toughest order to try to match their performance of the last two years. In Bahrain, the car looked strong, but similar to Red Bull didn’t reveal all of its cards.
Alpine delivered a surprisingly strong showing in testing when you consider their performance over the last few years. Now running the Mercedes engine, the team like ulta reliable without any major issues. The other standout team was Haas, which wasn’t too far adrift of being at the head of the midfield.
A team that didn’t genuinely impress or disappoint was Audi. The team didn’t experience any major reliability issues, but didn’t raise any eyebrows either; some would say this is a perfect start for any new team. Racing Bulls too seem to be in okay shape without delivering anything noteworthy.
The same cannot quite be said for Williams, who seems to have an overweight chassis. The good news is that the weight issue is one that can be solved. The bad news is that this will likely only be addressed when F1 heads to Europe for the season. It could be worse, and appears to be in the case of Aston Martin.
In addition to dealing with an overweight car, the Honda power unit looks to be the most unreliable in the paddock. It’s an unfortunate but uncanny bit of déjà vu for Fernando Alonso, who had years of struggles with Honda power units during his second stint at McLaren.
And then there is Cadillac. The initial race pace of the car doesn’t seem to be quite up to standard. This team has quite a bit of development to do before they’ll feature in the midfield battle.ALSO READ: F1 ‘secret’ testing delivers surprises
