2026 Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team

[nitrotech]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe Merc did a race sim this entire week? Just a bunch of 10 lap stints in the 1.36-1.37 range.

The competition will be hoping those were not full fuel stints...

I am certain they are 3rd stint fuel loads. Trying to understand balance and performance changes with various setups. Given that's the softest compound in the bahrain race, it's a good tyre to assess the change in performance driven by setup variations. This is similar to what Red Bull did in last year's testing.

[venkyhere]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe Merc did a race sim this entire week? Just a bunch of 10 lap stints in the 1.36-1.37 range.

It seems they imposed a single digit stint-length restriction on themselves in fear of 'showing their hand too early'. I can find only a single 10+ lap run (11) by Russel on day1 morning.

[upsidedowntoast]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe Merc did a race sim this entire week? Just a bunch of 10 lap stints in the 1.36-1.37 range.

It seems they imposed a single digit stint-length restriction on themselves in fear of 'showing their hand too early'. I can find only a single 10+ lap run (11) by Russel on day1 morning.

https://i.ibb.co/NgYR6Tyt/Bahrain-2026- ... rcedes.png

Not sure if it's a showing their hand thing or just being behind on their setup testing schedule thing considering how much time they lost in week one

[Lasssept]

The Race

Ferrari's genuine promise has a caveat

Charles Leclerc set the pace overall in testing, and there is no doubt that the Ferrari is a competitive package. It's proved that by also setting impressive times in long runs.

However, there’s no question that Ferrari has revealed pace closer to the maximum potential of its car than Mercedes has. Leclerc accepts that means it is "difficult to understand where we really stand because teams are hiding their true form".

While the extent to which teams focus on sandbagging in testing is overstated, The Race understands that Mercedes has significant pace in hand, and it will head to the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in a fortnight as pre-race favourite.

What's more, it is understood that customer team McLaren was not running the definitive power unit specification. It will in Australia, and that's expected to give the defending constructors' champion a performance boost.

But Ferrari has started well - even if it won't be a second clear of the pack in Australia.

[FittingMechanics]

I've tried to check 2025 after test reports and while most saw McLaren as fastest, many didn't think the advantage was significant and Ferrari test was seen as a really good one, best in years. Hamilton had some great quotes.

This would confirm that view, Ferrari uses more in testing. This could also be reason for their fast starts, more power = better starts.

[Jdn1327]

Is the speculation about a more powerful engine true? If so Mercedes have to be the favourites with the pace they've shown in testing.

[upsidedowntoast]

Is the speculation about a more powerful engine true? If so Mercedes have to be the favourites with the pace they've shown in testing.

The "new spec" is true. More powerful, maybe, but not confirmed; it could just be an update in response to the compression ratio brouhaha.

[Badger]

Is the speculation about a more powerful engine true? If so Mercedes have to be the favourites with the pace they've shown in testing.

The "new spec" is true. More powerful, maybe, but not confirmed; it could just be an update in response to the compression ratio brouhaha.

Mercedes already had the new spec.

[f1Follower]

Do we have Race stint comparison of all the 4 cars on the last day of testing?

[venkyhere]

Do we have Race stint comparison of all the 4 cars on the last day of testing?

[f1Follower]

Do we have Race stint comparison of all the 4 cars on the last day of testing?

https://i.ibb.co/dRD3mMT/Bahrain-2026-p ... 2-day3.png

Was this during the same time? Ferrari race stint was done during afternoon with minimum level of grip. Also do we know the tyre deg on each of the cars?

[upsidedowntoast]

Is the speculation about a more powerful engine true? If so Mercedes have to be the favourites with the pace they've shown in testing.

The "new spec" is true. More powerful, maybe, but not confirmed; it could just be an update in response to the compression ratio brouhaha.

Mercedes already had the new spec.

Yes, but we have no idea how it really works because they were only running short stints and they had a ton of reliability issues.

[nitrotech]

The "new spec" is true. More powerful, maybe, but not confirmed; it could just be an update in response to the compression ratio brouhaha.

Mercedes already had the new spec.

Yes, but we have no idea how it really works because they were only running short stints and they had a ton of reliability issues.

It's better to find these issues in testing than in races.

[f1Follower]

Do we have Race stint comparison of all the 4 cars on the last day of testing?

https://i.ibb.co/dRD3mMT/Bahrain-2026-p ... 2-day3.png

I used chatgpt for this image analysis. Mercedes is better however Leclerc did his race simulation along with Kimi and in them he is better by 0.3 seconds.

We still don't know which car is going to excel and this makes for great season ahead. We have 3 different engine manufacturers and 4 different chassis makers which is going making this season great spectacle.

[Seanspeed]

The Race
Ferrari's genuine promise has a caveat

Charles Leclerc set the pace overall in testing, and there is no doubt that the Ferrari is a competitive package. It's proved that by also setting impressive times in long runs.

However, there’s no question that Ferrari has revealed pace closer to the maximum potential of its car than Mercedes has. Leclerc accepts that means it is "difficult to understand where we really stand because teams are hiding their true form".

Absolutely nothing about Leclerc's comment suggests Ferrari were showing their 'true form' anymore than anybody else. Absolutely flimsy claim.