After the Barcelona shakedown, held behind closed doors, the moment had finally arrived from February 11 to 13. In Bahrain, the Formula 1 teams took their brand-new cars onto the track for the first time, pushing them through tests under the media spotlight.
And one thing became crystal clear: meme potential is off the charts. A lot of drivers are not thrilled with their new rides.
The new cars are 10 centimeters narrower and 20 centimeters shorter than last year’s machines. The tires have been resized to match the tighter proportions, with the front tread shrinking by 2.5 centimeters and the rear by 3 centimeters. That also means less weight: the cars now have a minimum of 768 kilograms, roughly 30 kilos lighter than before.
New engines are also set to play a huge role in the 2026 season. The aerodynamics have been tweaked, but the real hot topic is the powertrain: the classic combustion engine can now deliver only 50 percent of the power, with the rest coming from a battery.
Drivers Critize the New Cars
When asked about how the new car drives, four-time world champion Max Verstappen didn’t hold back: “No. It’s not fun to drive at all. It’s a bit like Formula E on steroids.” He added, “As a true racer, I live for going flat out—and right now, you just can’t do that. To me, this simply isn’t Formula 1.”
Formula 1 world champion Lando Norris fired back: “If he wants to retire, he can go ahead and retire.”
Meanwhile, problems continue to plague Aston Martin. The team didn’t have their car ready in time for the Barcelona shakedown. Now come the next bad news: they were 4.5 seconds off the pace, and on top of that, they’ve run 400 fewer test laps than everyone else. No exaggeration! Aston Martin had managed just 101 laps by the end of Wednesday in Bahrain, while Mercedes (585), Ferrari (571), and Haas (506) had already cracked the 500-lap mark.
“Right now, we look like we’re four seconds off the top teams, four-and-a-half seconds. Again, it’s impossible to know what fuel loads and everything people are running. Now we need to try and find four seconds of performance, so we’ll see,” Lance Stroll said.
He added, “We’re trying to extract more performance every day from the car. I think also longer term, bringing upgrades on the PU (power unit) side, on the chassis side. We will see in Australia where we line up, and then we will see throughout the season how we progress.”
Stroll’s team mate, Fernando Alonso, also shared his thoughts on the situation. “We need to unlock more performance,” he said. “Missing (most of) Barcelona was not ideal. This is the very first test for us, so we’re still going step-by-step into the car. We are a little bit on the back foot, we have to admit that, but hopefully there is time to improve.
Even Team Representative Pedro de la Rosa admitted Friday evening that the squad is “behind schedule” and not where they want to be.
Winners of Bahrain
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Mercedes and Ferrari have pegged Red Bull and their impressive new power unit as the class of the field. Even though the team is encouraged by their work in Bahrain, they’re still keeping their feet firmly on the ground.
“It’s been a positive week,” said Red Bull Technical Director Pierre Wache. “(But) there were a few teams which were clearly very quick today and it looks like we are behind, so there is still a lot to improve. Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari are there at the top.”
The action continues next week, with testing back in Bahrain from February 18 to 20.
New F1 Cars Shock Drivers: Laps Down, Memes Up