F1 Bahrain pre-season testing live commentary and updates - day 1
Follow along for updates from F1's 2026 pre-season test in Bahrain
Live Standings
Live Text
An alternative inspiration for the Cadillac livery has been raised: Jaguar's asymmetric look that it previously ran in Formula E - what do you think?
Mitch Evans, Jaguar Racing, Jaguar I-TYPE 6
Photo by: Andreas Beil
Was the 1999 BAR 01 the inspiration behind the Cadillac look? Somehow, I think not.
Jacques Villeneuve, BAR
Photo by: Sutton Images
We've got a livery question, my favourite kind of question! This time it’s about the Cadillac and its split look for 2026.
Comparisons are being drawn to the BAR from 1999, as the team initially unveiled two liveries for its car but had to combine these into one zipper look – which divided opinion.
Cadillac has, instead, created one livery that flips the colour scheme from one side to the other. One side of the F1 car is predominantly white with black detail, while the other is black with white detail – what do you think of the team’s inaugural look?
Valtteri Bottas, Cadillac Racing
Photo by: Guido De Bortoli / LAT Images via Getty Images
We had a query raised about the size of the battery packs in the new power units, as teams will be harvesting much more electrical energy this year.
The Energy Store, as they’re called in the F1 rues, don’t have a set cap, but the size that team's use is dictated by the weight requirements and the amount of electrical energy that is harvested. Our resident tech expert Jake Boxall-Legge says most teams will stick to a 4MJ unit, because that's the most that they can charge it up per lap.
While we wait for the on-track action to resume after lunch, let's work through some of your questions about the new era of Formula 1 that kicks off this year.
And just because you can never have enough rankings, here's the tally for each engine manufacturer:
Mercedes: 215
Ferrari: 164
Red Bull-Ford: 140
Audi: 49
Honda: 33
And here’s the lap tally for the first four hours, with Williams clearly working to make up for lost track time in Barcelona
Carlos Sainz: 77 laps
Arvid Lindblad: 75 laps
Max Verstappen: 65 laps
Esteban Ocon: 63 laps
George Russell: 56 laps
Oscar Piastri: 54 laps
Lewis Hamilton: 52 laps
Gabriel Bortoleto: 49 laps
Valtteri Bottas : 49 laps
Lance Stroll: 33 laps
Franco Colapinto: 28 laps
Here are the fastest times for each driver from the morning session:
Max Verstappen: 1m35.433
Oscar Piastri: 1m35.602s
George Russell: 1m36.108s
Lewis Hamilton: 1m36.433s
Esteban Ocon: 1m37.169s
Arvid Lindblad: 1m37.945s
Carlos Sainz: 1m38.221s
Gabriel Bortoleto: 1m38.871s
Valtteri Bottas: 1m39.150s
Lance Stroll: 1m39.883s
Franco Colapinto: 1m40.330s
The chequered flag falls on the first four hours of testing, with Max Verstappen topping the times!
Audi isn't the only new team this year, as 2026 also sees American automaker Cadillac join the grid.
Veteran racer Valtteri Bottas is in action for the outfit today, and has so far managed 35 laps in the car with a best time of 1m39.150s on the hard tyres.
Valtteri Bottas, Cadillac Racing
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / LAT Images via Getty Images
And that difference is even more stark up front, as you can see when it's side-by-side with the Ferrari SF-26:
For anyone curious about the Audi R26's sidepods versus the competition, here it is side-by-side with the Williams FW48 on track in Bahrain.
On the subject of engine manufacturers, here's how the lap count compares across the five that we have this year:
Mercedes: 152
Ferrari: 105
Red Bull-Ford: 98
Honda: 30
Audi: 25
Time for a quick lap count update - it's still Carlos Sainz of Williams who's leading the charge with 56 under his belt.
He's closely followed by Arvid Lindblad on 55, who is ahead of Max Verstappen on 43.
Testing, testing, is this thing on?
Thanks to Ben for taking us through the morning so far, it's Owen here with you for the next few hours. What's everyone looking forward to seeing over the next three days in Bahrain?
There's that Williams with flow-vis on.
Carlos Sainz, Williams
Photo by: Joe Portlock / LAT Images via Getty Images
Sainz completes his 50th lap of the day, a good start for Williams after missing the Barcelona shakedown. Incidentally, he sets his fastest time, a 1m38.221s on soft tyres.
Meanwhile, it's a race to 50 laps between Williams' Sainz and Racing Bulls' Lindblad. The British team is leading 48 laps to 47, with both cars currently on track.
Alpine's Colapinto has rejoined after causing a red flag earlier.
The Red Bull is one of the cars we haven't shown today yet, so here it is.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / LAT Images via Getty Images
Piastri joins Verstappen in the sub-1m36s bracket, he sets a 1m35.711s on medium tyres.
Audi's radically different sidepods
Several of you have inquired about Audi's new sidepods.
New parts were expected for the Bahrain tests – and the team has turned up with radically different sidepods for the opening day of running at Sakhir.
After running with conventional inlets at the Barcelona shakedown, Audi has switched to a design with more verticality, allowing it to be narrower overall.
This has allowed engineers to sculpt the sidepods' leading edge, shrink-wrapping it around the side impact structures and also creating a channel over the top.
The premise here is to reduce the length of the airflow's path to the rear to ensure it retains energy.
Audi sidepod comparison
That's a 1m37.707 on soft tyres. No improvement.
Ocon sets a personal best in the first sector, doesn't improve in the second...
Esteban Ocon is currently the only driver out on track, so here's the Haas in action.
Esteban Ocon, Haas F1 Team
Photo by: Joe Portlock / LAT Images via Getty Images
All cars but the Alpine have now completed over 20 laps. Williams is on 42, Racing Bulls on 39, Red Bull on 37.
Mercedes' new power unit has been controversial due to its astute interpretation of the rules regarding the engine's compression ratio.
Williams boss James Vowles, who obviously has a vested interest in Mercedes retaining his advantage, has insisted on F1 being a meritocracy despite rivals' discontent. Read more here.
Both Piastri and Russell have now lapped in 1m36s.
"Interesting to see a Mercedes-powered car stopping on track. I don't think that happened at all in Barcelona, did it?" shotliff_13 inquires.
It did happen once, again with Colapinto, on Monday morning, for an unspecified reason.
Max Verstappen goes fastest by two seconds! The Red Bull lapped in 1m35.433s on medium tyres.
As we mentioned earlier, Mercedes impressed over the Barcelona test, where it even completed a race simulation.
Williams team boss James Vowles branded it "a big laugh in everyone's face". Click to read more.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
Photo by: Mercedes AMG
Apologies. Contrary to what we said earlier, the lap tally displayed in our live timing is the number of laps on each car's current tyre set (regardless of pitstops).
Here's the lap tally so far:
Racing Bulls (Red Bull Ford) - 37
Williams (Mercedes) - 27
Haas (Ferrari) - 23
Red Bull (Red Bull Ford) - 22
Ferrari - 20
Audi - 18
Mercedes - 18
Aston Martin (Honda) - 17
Alpine (Mercedes) - 17
McLaren (Mercedes) - 16
Cadillac (Ferrari) - 16
Esteban Ocon goes top with a 1m37.668s on soft tyres.
There's the Alpine on track before the incident.
Franco Colapinto, Alpine
Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images
Green flag.
Colapinto had been coasting throughout the infield complex before finally parking on the outside of the track. The Alpine has been moved behind the barriers.
Franco Colapinto has stopped on track in the Alpine.
By: Autosport Staff
