2026 Pre-Season Testing

[f1isgood]

The fair comparison point is not Bahrain 2025, but Bahrain 2022. That was 1:30.558.
In pre-season testing in Bahrain it was 1:31.7.

It is OK to hate the cars, but let’s look for fair comparisons.

A comparison with the last year of cars is entirely fair. Comparing with 2022 cars is simply a different comparison, not an inherently more 'fair' one.

Sorry, just a pet peeve of mine. Like, I've always disliked the notion that you couldn't compare apples and oranges. lol You can compare anything, what matters more is what you're determining from the comparisons while understanding the context of the comparison. And using different points of comparisons is often very useful for gaining a more complete picture of things.

Just to add: The pole position would have been much quicker under "normal" conditions. Bahrain last year was excessively hot during the race weekend as compared to testing. Given this, I think last year's cars were capable of sub 1:29:00 at Bahrain under more normal race conditions.

[willmesquita]

The fair comparison point is not Bahrain 2025, but Bahrain 2022. That was 1:30.558.
In pre-season testing in Bahrain it was 1:31.7.

It is OK to hate the cars, but let’s look for fair comparisons.

+1

[TeamKoolGreen]

I watched the entire eight hours of testing attentively. I tried not to get distracted, so as not to lose sight of anything. I was amused by how, from time to time, some drivers couldn't overtake, but the one in front would boost and start pulling away. I'd never seen that before in F1. It was so obvious that it was hilarious.

I also noticed this but the goal would be to make the defender us his energy inefficiently for several laps in a row making them easy to overtake in the end.

But it seems like all the car being followed has to do is wait for the attacking car to overheat it's tires over 3-4 laps and then there's no pass coming. That is just what flat floors do.

[AR3-GP]

I watched the entire eight hours of testing attentively. I tried not to get distracted, so as not to lose sight of anything. I was amused by how, from time to time, some drivers couldn't overtake, but the one in front would boost and start pulling away. I'd never seen that before in F1. It was so obvious that it was hilarious.

I also noticed this but the goal would be to make the defender us his energy inefficiently for several laps in a row making them easy to overtake in the end.

But it seems like all the car being followed has to do is wait for the attacking car to overheat it's tires over 3-4 laps and then there's no pass coming. That is just what flat floors do.

Pirelli says feedback has been that the current tires are more resistant to overheating.

[upsidedowntoast]

Does anyone know if this creator is trustworthy? He seems pretty sensible but I know less about driving than engineering.

[AR3-GP]

This is embarrassing

[djos]

Does anyone know if this creator is trustworthy? He seems pretty sensible but I know less about driving than engineering.

I don’t know enough to say either, but he does seem quite rational in his explanations.

[dialtone]

This is embarrassing

Bottas absolutely flew on that start. Nice.

[Just_a_fan]

The noise about a new fastest lap is just that: BS.

Fastest laps are set under racing conditions, not testing or FP or any other time.

Sadly, the need to make headlines means that any and every fast lap is a "fastest lap!!!!". It isn't. So just shut up.

[Gothrek]

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.

A while back, a lot of people couldn't access the site anymore. Random server errors, so a lot of people left, as you would expect. Don't know what the reason was for the fix taking so long, but it took months.

[AR3-GP]

Lando Norris just logged the fastest S3 of preseason: 22.9s

[purestpurist]

Can't see a non-mercedes powered car finishing on the podium this year, but hopefully mclaren will be close enough there's at least a little intrigue

[FittingMechanics]

Sam Collins talking about Ferrari rear wing active aero flipping upside down, his explanation was that it reduces drag because it makes lift. I'm no aerodynamicist but I think the drag is not reduced if you run upside down.

This was apparently tested and removed.

[AR3-GP]

Sam Collins talking about Ferrari rear wing active aero flipping upside down, his explanation was that it reduces drag because it makes lift. I'm no aerodynamicist but I think the drag is not reduced if you run upside down.

This was apparently tested and removed.

[organic]

Sam Collins talking about Ferrari rear wing active aero flipping upside down, his explanation was that it reduces drag because it makes lift. I'm no aerodynamicist but I think the drag is not reduced if you run upside down.

This was apparently tested and removed.

Might let you run softer though?