PRIXVIEW – Bahrain Pre-Season Tests

The second and third pre-season tests brings F1 to Sakhir in Bahrain. Since 2021, the circuit in the Gulf has become the preferred venue for testing thanks to more stable conditions to those in Europe and its closeness to the European summer. The twilight test sees the teams run under the lights in the evening.

Sakhir will host six days of testing over the next two weeks, as the teams look to build on what they learnt or what they need to find solutions for after Barcelona testing, as they try to get to grips with these new cars as well as develop them. However, there still could be problems with the car developing everything, and this is very important for the teams, given the scale of these regulation changes.

The circuit features many of the characteristics favoured by its designer, Herman Tilke, but this is one of the better circuits designed by the German as it mixes three straights with a twister infield section around an oasis in the centre of the circuit. That means for the race weekends, race teams need to find a balance between the two, high speed that matters on the three straights, and that means that good downforce and speed are very important, as well as breaking at the end of the straights.

The infield middle section is the more technical and twisty sector, which will be an interesting section to watch over the coming weeks, as it will give us an idea of how closely cars will be able to follow each other. The circuit normally favours cars which are good at high speed and high downforce, Mercedes being strong through most of the hybrid era.

The Sakhir circuit is one the drivers know well, having been hosting races since 2004, as well as several tests. It is a high-speed and downforce circuit with a technical infield, which gives us a good idea of a car’s performance. This means that it tends to favour the teams at the front, but this will only give us an idea of where the teams are going into Melbourne.

What they will want to do is build on their learnings from Barcelona, as well as the possible first round of updates for this season. These tests are about performance and fixing any problems they may have had in Barcelona, and try different things, they will also be aware that we can all now watch the testing, have access to basic timing, and knowledge of how these tests work from previous years.

There are rumours, which at the time of writing, suggest that the first test will be changed to behind closed doors. I don’t think this will happen. Though it’s an important test for them in developing the cars for us, the fans, it will be a first opportunity to see these cars out on track. The things I will be looking for are more the drivability and how the cars change. Also, how the active aero works in practice for us its about practising how to tell the story and getting used to what we need to learn.

Sakhir is now the regular testing venue, so teams know how to run tests here, and they have double the amount of running than normal because of the power unit change. This also gives them an opportunity for twilight testing as running starts two hours later and runs an hour into what will be qualifying and the Grand Prix in April.

That hour one will be watched more closely as it will be when conditions will also be at their best, and we know that in cooler conditions the laps are around two seconds faster than in the afternoon. Though most will focus on running around 15:00 local, which is the normal start time for races, as well as 18:00 when the race starts in Bahrain.

But we need not get carried away when we start analysing the information, like Barcelona its about building the information and seeing car behaviour to me is more important as well as lap performance and drivability of the cars. As we are expecting the cars to chase performance and gather information for the teams.

Facts and figures

Test		Formula 1 Aramco (Bahrain) Pre-Season Tests 2026
Venue		Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir, Bahrain
Configuration		2005 Grand Prix
Circuit Length		5.412 km (3.363 mi)
Lap record	Race	01:31.447 (Pedro de la Rosa, McLaren – Mercedes, 2005)
	Qualifying

Fast Facts

• The circuit has a variety of layouts for different events. F1 has raced on three variations of the circuit, with all but one Bahrain Grand Prix taking place on the Grand Prix Circuit layout of the track.
• Bahrain spans some 760 square kilometres (290 sq mi), and is the third-smallest nation in Asia after the Maldives and Singapore
• 2025 marked the first time in the Bahrain Grand Prix’s 21-year history that McLaren won the race.
• Kimi Raikkonen finished on the podium eight times in Bahrain but never took a victory here.
• Robert Kubica took the only pole position of his career at Sakhir in 2008. He also became the first Polish driver to start a Grand Prix from the front of the grid, as well as marking Sauber’s only pole position

Event timetable

What we will be looking for

These next two weeks are about two things: correcting any problems or issues the teams may have found and chasing performance. This circuit should give the teams a good opportunity to test on straights and a twister infield section, giving a variety of conditions for these cars to be developed, as we know these conditions are more like the conditions we will see for most of the races during the summer.

Reliability for most of the teams in Barcelona was the headline, and now, going to Sakhir, that’s a good start, as it allows them to chase performance and bring upgrades to the cars. It’s all about learning about the new cars, and moving forward, we will need to wait, as I wrote for Barcelona, it’s about building the picture, so we can understand the cars. It is more about the way the cars are handling and driver comfort, which are equally important for drivers and as the six days progress, they will want to get as close as they can, but without giving too much away.

It’s also about how well the various parts are integrated and whether they all work together; this is key for them all, as it’s a baseline. We will see various upgrades throughout the test, and in Melbourne, where they will have three hours of practice before qualifying, as the clock counts down, the more important testing will take place, and if teams lack running, that will show when we get to races early on.

We know testing gives the teams flexibility in run plans and what they want to do, but we know they tend to do their performance runs during ‘the qualifying hour,’ at the end of the day. They might also run around 16:00, which is the normal qualifying, but these runs are likely to come during the second week, and some may be risky not doing them until FP2 in Melbourne. Sandbagging will be one of the words you will hear a lot, as teams don’t want to give everything away.

The impression from last week is that Mercedes is the favourite, given the reported advantage of their power unit, but it’s more likely that the works team has the slight advantage as they were the ones developing it. But they also need to get the aero right, which is most likely to go to McLaren.

But we should be given a better idea of how these cars are being developed and these extra tests will help iron out any problems that they may have found. It’s important to get as much learning as possible, as the teams need to build that basis for this whole regulation cycle, as they can no longer throw money at problems.

These two weeks are about building a baseline for development through out the season and whole cycle I feel the way the sport has evolved over the last few years with the budget cap they cap.

2024 vs 2025 Race Data

2025 Lap time comparison