2026 Pre-Season Testing

[Mandrake]

The amount of lock ups is insane. If it's really down to different deployment and then different speeds in the braking zones drivers need to start to look at their current speed to judge their braking.

[Real PJ's Beard]

Another poor day for Cadillac. I hope they can pick back up tomorrow

[ScottB]

The concept of the wing mirror lights being a thing for after a spin, a stall, returning to the pits at slow speed etc made sense, but are they seriously going to have them all going at the start?

Looks terrible. Will be giving people epileptic fits!

[Mikey05021984]

Last year pole position was 1:29,8 (at last year of stable regs)
Today fastest time is 1:33,4 (with 2 more testdays to go and a lot of power to unlock).
It seems they wil not be so much slower after all…
What do you think?

[BrunoH]

the race starts look so slow...

[AR3-GP]

Last year pole position was 1:29,8 (at last year of stable regs)
Today fastest time is 1:33,4 (with 2 more testdays to go and a lot of power to unlock).
It seems they wil not be so much slower after all…
What do you think?

2024 pole was 29.1 which was faster than 2025 pole. I think it was warmer in 2025 so less grip. So it will depend on weather conditions but they should be 3-4 seconds slower, temperature corrected.

[Mikey05021984]

Maybe for now they will be 3-4 seconds slower.
But it seems in maybe 1 or 2 years they will be very close to 2025 times …
Its only day 6 of testing of totally new concept cars.
We dont even know if engines have been turned up allready.
Teams are still experimenting with deployment etc
And if rumors are correct the Merc engine can go a lot faster…
And we are only 3.5 seconds slower allready now compared to 2025 pole.
I dont think they will be a lot slower after all

[Badger]

Maybe for now they will be 3-4 seconds slower.
But it seems in maybe 1 or 2 years they will be very close to 2025 times …
Its only day 6 of testing of totally new concept cars.
We dont even know if engines have been turned up allready.
Teams are still experimenting with deployment etc
And if rumors are correct the Merc engine can go a lot faster…
And we are only 3.5 seconds slower allready now compared to 2025 pole.
I dont think they will be a lot slower after all

In Bahrain... Wait until we get to tracks that don't have 6 big harvest zones.

[AR3-GP]

No comment:

The noise...

[Seanspeed]

Maybe for now they will be 3-4 seconds slower.
But it seems in maybe 1 or 2 years they will be very close to 2025 times …
Its only day 6 of testing of totally new concept cars.
We dont even know if engines have been turned up allready.
Teams are still experimenting with deployment etc
And if rumors are correct the Merc engine can go a lot faster…
And we are only 3.5 seconds slower allready now compared to 2025 pole.
I dont think they will be a lot slower after all

There is less scope for development than before, though.

And the more complex part of these new regulations is a lot more set-in-stone compared to the big feature of the last major rule changes - ground effect, which absolutely had plenty of room for improvement.

[TeamKoolGreen]

Last year pole position was 1:29,8 (at last year of stable regs)
Today fastest time is 1:33,4 (with 2 more testdays to go and a lot of power to unlock).
It seems they wil not be so much slower after all…
What do you think?

We knew that they wouldn't be that much slower. Then are just slow in the corners. But as others said , it is track dependent. We might be close to F2 speeds or slower than Indycar on certain tracks

Peter Windsor said *I can't believe how slow they are in the corners and it breaks my heart* You can say he's being dramatic but for Peter and a great many of the diehard fans , F1 is all about the corners. His podcast is called short corners.

[AR3-GP]

I have seen a few of these practice starts from this week and last. The Mercedes powered cars seem to have the most difficulty.

[Badger]

Sounds like a swarm of giant mosquitos.

[AR3-GP]

It sounds like a bunch of drones or vuvuzelas...Either way, doesn't sound premium.

[TeamKoolGreen]

A few years ago this kind of thread would be bursting with activity during the testing days . Anyone else feels the same? Feels so quiet especially given that we had a huge reg change…

Subconsciously everyone knows that it isn't the same game anymore. Traction is not the limiting factor anymore. If you aren't going through a corner limited by traction , then you are basically doing a safety car lap.