2026 Pre-Season Testing

Post here all non technical related topics about Formula One. This includes race results, discussions, testing analysis etc. TV coverage and other personal questions should be in Off topic chat.
Emag
Emag
133
Joined: 11 Feb 2019, 14:56

Re: 2026 Pre-Season Testing

Post

It's such a mess honestly, I don't know what to expect. Formula gimmick racing.
Developer of F1InsightsHub

User avatar
De Wet
17
Joined: 03 Jan 2024, 13:32

Re: 2026 Pre-Season Testing

Post

Emag wrote:
05 Feb 2026, 13:42
It's such a mess honestly, I don't know what to expect. Formula gimmick racing.

Spot On.

User avatar
FrukostScones
165
Joined: 25 May 2010, 17:41
Location: European Union

Re: 2026 Pre-Season Testing

Post

BorisTheBlade wrote:
04 Feb 2026, 23:01
This will IMHO be one of the biggest topics and performance differentiators in the beginning.
Also, there might be a very different pecking order for qualy pace compared to race pace.
If done right, energy storage SoC differences between directly competing cars could lead to lots of interesting situations.
Hopefully, FOM can transport this to TV well through some nice visuals.
I looked into your post(s) in the PU 2026 thread , interesting. a bit hard to understand these PU harvesting and deployment rules. but I (we) will get there. hopefully 8)
"I ain't with the FIFA, I'm in Tokyo." LH

fourmula1
fourmula1
0
Joined: 16 Nov 2021, 23:22

Re: 2026 Pre-Season Testing

Post

BorisTheBlade wrote:
04 Feb 2026, 23:01
This will IMHO be one of the biggest topics and performance differentiators in the beginning.
Also, there might be a very different pecking order for qualy pace compared to race pace.
If done right, energy storage SoC differences between directly competing cars could lead to lots of interesting situations.
Hopefully, FOM can transport this to TV well through some nice visuals.
It could make the racing feel very unintuitive for many. Can they do real time live battery charge state and deployment graphics? Similar to old KERS and indycar push to pass graphics?

HungarianRacer
HungarianRacer
37
Joined: 25 Jun 2019, 12:26

Re: 2026 Pre-Season Testing

Post

fourmula1 wrote:
05 Feb 2026, 17:20
BorisTheBlade wrote:
04 Feb 2026, 23:01
This will IMHO be one of the biggest topics and performance differentiators in the beginning.
Also, there might be a very different pecking order for qualy pace compared to race pace.
If done right, energy storage SoC differences between directly competing cars could lead to lots of interesting situations.
Hopefully, FOM can transport this to TV well through some nice visuals.
It could make the racing feel very unintuitive for many. Can they do real time live battery charge state and deployment graphics? Similar to old KERS and indycar push to pass graphics?
They'll probably paywall that and leave regular viewers - and potentially non-F1 TV commentators - confused and frustrated, be realistic...

User avatar
AR3-GP
535
Joined: 06 Jul 2021, 01:22

Re: 2026 Pre-Season Testing

Post

5 days to go
Beware of T-Rex

User avatar
Wouter
114
Joined: 16 Dec 2017, 13:02

Re: 2026 Pre-Season Testing

Post

AR3-GP wrote:
06 Feb 2026, 02:40
5 days to go
ImageImageImage

User avatar
FrukostScones
165
Joined: 25 May 2010, 17:41
Location: European Union

Re: 2026 Pre-Season Testing

Post

looking forward to it, but force majeure risk still seems, albeit unlikely, not impossible.
"I ain't with the FIFA, I'm in Tokyo." LH

Seanspeed
Seanspeed
7
Joined: 20 Feb 2019, 20:12

Re: 2026 Pre-Season Testing

Post

fourmula1 wrote:
04 Feb 2026, 22:05
FittingMechanics wrote:
04 Feb 2026, 21:12
You can use 8.5 MJ of energy per lap but you can store only 4 MJ.

Some of the energy will be retrieved through normal braking.

Not sure Lico will be needed on qualy laps.
Ah this is super informative. Is there a skill/tech gap to recovering that much energy on a lap? Or can all teams do it fairly equally/efficiently? If it is difficult to do and one team is able to do it at no lap time cost while other teams are losing loads of time this is going to make for some serious field spread over the race.
Well one reason that people are talking about the Merc engine trick isn't just the bit of extra engine power, but also that they could essentially use that power advantage to run less energy deployment for essentially the same overall power deployment as others, saving them energy use, making it so they can either use more energy in more critical moments or simply having to do less recovery.

User avatar
AR3-GP
535
Joined: 06 Jul 2021, 01:22

Re: 2026 Pre-Season Testing

Post

Tire allocations for Bahrain?
Beware of T-Rex

User avatar
AR3-GP
535
Joined: 06 Jul 2021, 01:22

Re: 2026 Pre-Season Testing

Post

Image
Beware of T-Rex

User avatar
bluechris
9
Joined: 26 Jun 2019, 20:28
Location: Athens

Re: 2026 Pre-Season Testing

Post

Official schedule for the Sakhir test sessions
11–13 February
Live coverage only from 16:00 to 17:00, showing the final hour of the afternoon session

18–20 February
Morning session: 08:00–12:00 (10:00–19:00 local Bahrain time)
Afternoon session: 13:00–17:00

User avatar
f1316
88
Joined: 22 Feb 2012, 18:36

Re: 2026 Pre-Season Testing

Post

For anyone in the US, do we know how this will work with Apple TV and if they’re even showing testing? I used to use the OTT app and that was great but haven’t seen anything in the Apple app yet and totally unclear how that’s all going to work (seems like there’s precious little info out there).

Seanspeed
Seanspeed
7
Joined: 20 Feb 2019, 20:12

Re: 2026 Pre-Season Testing

Post

AR3-GP wrote:
08 Feb 2026, 17:21
Tire allocations for Bahrain?
Yes, there will be tire allocations.

User avatar
f1316
88
Joined: 22 Feb 2012, 18:36

Re: 2026 Pre-Season Testing

Post

f1316 wrote:
09 Feb 2026, 03:53
For anyone in the US, do we know how this will work with Apple TV and if they’re even showing testing? I used to use the OTT app and that was great but haven’t seen anything in the Apple app yet and totally unclear how that’s all going to work (seems like there’s precious little info out there).
Fwiw I had another try at using the old OTT app and found I could now link that with my Apple TV account (that option wasn’t there a couple of weeks ago) so that’s all pretty clear and easy now.