Our reaction to the first SECRET F1 test in 2026
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What happened during the first secret F1 test in Barcelona?
Hello everybody and welcome back to the B1 Podcast with Matt and Tommy. Day one of the secret shakedown in Barcelona.
That's right, the secret test is underway. How secret was it?
Well, we're going to get into all of that and more. But I think we need to, from the top, Tommy. Firstly, how are you? Are you feeling good that cars are back on track?
I am. I would say it's nice to see them, but very limited. I enjoyed the spy shots on Twitter and random people streaming the data, which then got shut down by Formula 1, which we'll talk about later. But yeah, crazy. What a bizarre thing. I've never experienced this in all the years I've watched F1. It's quite bizarre.
No, exactly. And secondly, and I said firstly a long time ago, but secondly, let's get into exactly what's been going on. If you've been living under a rock or if you're just not that bothered about Formula One cars being on track in January and you're like, well, Australia isn't until March. Fair enough. We're here to wrap it all up for you as best as we can. So normally, obviously, without the regulation change, we will get a few days pre-season testing in Bahrain. That's what we would have if it was just another year of the same regulation set. However, because of the rule shake-up, we have still official F1 testing in Bahrain in a few weeks, and there's two sets of three days. But before that, right now, we have a five-day shakedown.
Shakedown, that's what it's called, shakedown. I don't know if it's because Bahrain have spent millions of pounds to be the people that are the testing place. Whatever it is, it's shakedown time in Barcelona. And within this shakedown, as much as it is five days... Teams are only allowed to run in three of those five days. So if they roll out the pits and do half of an outlap, that is it.
Why was the first F1 test kept so secretive?
Not half, even one metre. If you roll out the pits full stop, that means they have taken part in the day. And that's one of their three. And finally, no media or fans allowed at the Test and people were being kicked out. That's the bizarre one. It sounded like they had the secret service going around getting people to just basically remove them from the area.
That's the bizarre one, isn't it? Because in 2022, there was a new regulation change, albeit not as big as this one with engines and things, but a completely new kind of aero package and everything like that. Still, obviously, the hybrid engines changed, But they had, again, a kind of non-televised test in Barcelona, so that we were kind of used to. But back then, they invited the media. They had photographers. They had everyone there. They weren't throwing people out that would dare stand near a tree near the track. And you could basically like, we were seeing lap times, we were seeing everything, we were seeing pictures, we could analyse things. Whereas this one, my word, I've never, never seen it so secretive.
It was insane.
Right, shall we get into the first question? And it's as simple as this. Why is the first F1 test so secretive?
What are they hiding? What is going on in Barcelona that we're not allowed to see?
However, I guess we're not allowed to see, but clearly they didn't do a very good job of us not seeing because half of the day live timing was being leaked. So we were just chilling, doing a bit of a stream, trying to catch some information. Got that information, lovely jubbly. But also, there were people around the circuit taking pictures with their lovely lens on their cameras, their long distances. And I'm just kind of sat here like, what is the point? It doesn't matter if they blow up. It doesn't matter if they stop on track.
How did fans and media react to the secrecy of the F1 test?
Who is going to be under threat here if we all had a little bit of eyeballs? Because if anything, it's made people want to see it more. When you hide it away, you're going to have these cheeky little photographers around the circuit. You're going to... And information comes out one way or another. So for me, it feels pointless. It feels so utterly pointless to keep this so secret, especially when Formula One is still very lucky to be in this position where they have a huge fan base, a massive fan base across the world, thanks to Drive to Survive and everything else.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What happened during the first secret F1 test in Barcelona?
0:05–2:05
2
Why was the first F1 test kept so secretive?
2:05–4:10
3
How did fans and media react to the secrecy of the F1 test?
4:10–7:04
4
What information was leaked during the secret F1 test?
7:04–9:35
5
What are the implications of blocking media from the F1 test?
9:35–11:38
6
How did the teams perform during the secret F1 test?
11:38–14:06
7
What challenges are teams facing ahead of the new F1 season?
14:06–17:13
8
What can we expect from the rest of the pre-season testing?
17:13–29:28