The 2026 Formula 1 season brings the biggest rules overhaul in over a decade and, heading into Melbourne, nobody really knows who is going to be fast. That uncertainty is exactly what makes this season so compelling.
Ciara Gillan and I sat down with Simone Scanu, co-founder of real-time F1 data and telemetry app Formula Live Pulse, to work through what Bahrain and Barcelona testing actually told us, and what it means for the season ahead.
The headline story from testing was Ferrari. Their exhaust-mounted wing, a small piece of bodywork positioned just behind the exhaust that redirects airflow through the rear wing, is something no other team has done since a similar concept was banned around 2010. Simone’s assessment is that it is genuinely hard to replicate because it is built around Ferrari’s specific gearbox and differential architecture. They will not bring it to Australia, saving it for power-sensitive circuits like Baku and Monza, but it signals serious engineering ambition.
At the other end of the testing picture, Honda and Aston Martin completed roughly 2,000 kilometres across both test sessions. Compare that to Red Bull’s 10,000-plus and Ferrari and Mercedes clearing 20,000, and the deficit is stark. Battery vibration issues are the admitted cause, and whether those are resolved before Melbourne is an open question.
We also cover Cadillac as the completely unknown quantity with two race-winning drivers, Williams arriving late but not looking terrible, the difference between Boost Mode and Overtake Mode under the new hybrid regulations, and whether the Adrian Newey era at Aston Martin is already in trouble before it has properly begun.
A good episode to have in your ears before the lights go out in Melbourne.