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As pre-season testing reaches its conclusion, which teams look best - and worst - placed ahead of the Australian Grand Prix?

As pre-season testing reaches its conclusion, which teams look best - and worst - placed ahead of the Australian Grand Prix?

As pre-season testing reaches its conclusion, which teams look best - and worst - placed ahead of the Australian Grand Prix?

As pre-season testing reaches its conclusion, which teams look best - and worst - placed ahead of the Australian Grand Prix?

All eyes are now on the opening round of the 2026 Formula 1 campaign after pre-season running concluded on Friday to cap off nine days of testing between Bahrain and Barcelona.
This is all ahead of the Australian Grand Prix on 6-8 March, which'll kickstart a new era for the championship with its widespread regulation changes. 
So how do the teams look going into it? Hey are the key figures ...Keep reading

F1.com's Lawrence Barretto analyses the third and final day of the second pre-season test at the Bahrain International Circuit.

Pre-season testing came to a close at the Bahrain International Circuit on Friday, with Charles Leclerc setting the pace for Ferrari via an eye-catching evening run.

Fred Vasseur reflected positively on how Ferrari’s pre-season testing unfolded in Bahrain, with the team boss suggesting that the squad did “pretty well” in terms of meeting their target to gain a lot of mileage, though also cautioned that development will be key to “keeping momentum” during the season ahead.

Charles Leclerc has ended the final day of 2026 pre-season testing in Bahrain at the top of the timesheets, heading Lando Norris and Max Verstappen as Friday’s running brought the second test to a close.

MotoGP will hold its final pre-season test of 2026 at the Chang International Circuit in Buriram, Thailand on 21-22 February.
The collective test will precede the opening race of the year, also scheduled in Thailand on 1 March.
MotoGP already completed six days of testing at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia earlier this month, giving riders, teams and manufacturers plenty of time ...Keep reading

As Formula 1's pre-season testing ends in Bahrain, here are all key figures from the last day of running ahead of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
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Formula 1F1 Bahrain pre-season test: Ferrari tops testing overall by 0.8s



Mileage per ...Keep reading

Honda’s 2026 Formula 1 power unit lacks performance as well as reliability, the Japanese manufacturer has admitted.
Honda’s sole customer and de facto works team, Aston Martin, was slowest of all in the Bahrain pre-season test and completed much fewer laps than any other outfit – 334 in six days.
That is down to a number of technical issues, with an unspecified problem and a “data ...Keep reading

Trackhouse boss Davide Brivio has suggested a change to the way MotoGP weekends are structured, arguing the current format places too much emphasis on Fridays.
Since 2023, each MotoGP round has featured a sprint race on Saturday ahead of the grand prix itself on Sunday. The concept is also used in Formula 1, but there are notable differences in how the two championships have implemented ...Keep reading

Ferrari has achieved the fastest lap in Formula 1’s 2026 pre-season testing, courtesy of Charles Leclerc.
The eight-time grand prix winner topped the timesheet throughout the day. He was quickest in the morning with a 1m33.689s; in the afternoon, he successively brought this benchmark down to 1m33.629s, 1m33.162s and 1m32.655s with C3 rubber.
Leclerc then bolted on C4 tyres and lapped in ...Keep reading

George Russell believes that Mercedes need to “keep on improving reliability” after experiencing some gremlins during the Bahrain test, with the Briton also suggesting that race starts could be the “tallest hurdle” to the team’s potential.

It was continued progress for Mick Schumacher at the Unser IndyCar Open Test at Phoenix Raceway.
The 26-year-old German had a busy two days, logging 222 laps (fifth most) over the three sessions on the 1-mile tri-oval. He ended up 18th overall on the combined speedchart with a flying lap of 171.076 mph (21.0408 seconds).
“It was good,” Schumacher said. “We got not as much running (on ...Keep reading

Kimi Antonelli has confirmed that Mercedes has already identified the issue that caused him to stop on track during the morning session of the final day of pre-season testing in Bahrain.
The 19-year-old remains optimistic for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix from 6-8 March as the Brackley outfit was able to begin work to fix the issue.
"Yeah, it hasn't been the smoothest of testing ...Keep reading

Lawrence Stroll is purchasing the Aston Martin Formula 1 team's naming rights for £50million.
The British manufacturer made the move to sell the naming rights to its majority shareholder as it works to stabilise its finances. According to The Guardian, Aston Martin said "its earnings for 2025 would be worse than City forecasts, its fifth profit warning since September 2024."
The deal ...Keep reading

Oscar Piastri has addressed his personal management change ahead of the 2026 Formula 1 season.
Heading into the new season, the Australian driver confirmed that he had made changes to his management team. While Mark Webber is still Piastri's manager, he will take a step back from his trackside support role and put his focus instead on commercial matters.
Joining the 24-year-old at the track ...Keep reading

Aston Martin curtailed its Formula 1 pre-season testing programme in Bahrain as an after-effect of earlier technical issues.
Having switched to a Honda engine supply for F1’s new era, Aston Martin is the only team to use the Japanese power units and has struggled so far.
Regardless of its mediocre pace, the AMR26’s unreliability has been the biggest issue at Sakhir.
The Adrian ...Keep reading