It's just two weeks until F1 gets underway in Australia, and teams are currently in Bahrain, midway through their third and final preseason test. The 2026 season promises to be wildly different from those of the past few years, with all-new cars, engines, hybrid systems, and sustainable fuels entering the mix and shaking up the established order.
You shouldn't read too much into times from preseason testing. The cars don't have to conform to the in-season rules as teams test new components or fit-test rigs; for example, glowing brake discs could once again be seen on some cars that weren't running wheel covers at an earlier test, something we're unlikely to see during actual races.
You also don't know how much fuel—and therefore extra weight—anyone is carrying. In the past, some teams have even made headlines by running too light to set more competitive lap times in an effort to impress potential sponsors. And as the name explains, it's a test, so drivers will be following run plans devised with their engineers to learn specific things about their new cars. Or as one Internet wag once put it, the times mean as much as "a bacon briefcase."