Lando Norris
McLaren
Mercedes
Red Bull
Ferrari
Williams
Racing Bulls
Aston Martin
Haas
Alpine
Ferrari have been operating under the radar in Formula 1 testing so far, but Alpine’s Steve Nielsen thinks they may have built the fastest car.
Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time of the Barcelona Shakedown at the end of January, but all the hype surrounded Mercedes at that point as the Silver Arrows hit 500 laps. Ferrari quietly logged 440, the second-highest total.
In Bahrain, Haas driver Esteban Ocon has praised the ‘incredible’ reliability of the Ferrari engine as the car continued to pound in laps. The performance of the SF-26 is still a mystery, but the first real clues are emerging.
Charles Leclerc set the fastest time on day two, but it’s the Ferrari long-run pace that has caught the attention elsewhere.
Steve Nielsen impressed by Ferrari race pace in Bahrain testing
On day one in Bahrain, the narrative – pushed above all by Toto Wolff – was that Red Bull may be leading the way. But Alpine managing director Nielsen reassessed that theory in an interview with Sky Sports on Friday.
While he says that the situation can change quickly, there’s now a case to label Ferrari the ‘class of the field’ after an impressive long run for Leclerc in the evening session.
Ferrari scored seven podiums last year but didn’t win a single race, which has put Fred Vasseur and his colleagues under extreme pressure – even by Maranello standards – heading into F1’s new era.
How much have Ferrari impressed you in testing?
“If you asked me after Barcelona, I would have said Mercedes are the class of the field,” Nielsen, whose team use Mercedes engines, said. “If you asked me on Wednesday, I would have said Red Bull, if you asked me on Thursday, I would have said Ferrari, so maybe tonight is a different answer.
“We are doing our own programme and the longer runs is where you learn and Ferrari looked impressive.”
Intriguingly, McLaren driver Lando Norris told Sky on Thursday evening that his team aren’t ‘really close’ to Ferrari based on the long-run data. If the high-fuel pace is genuine, it must be married with strong single-lap pace.
Lewis Hamilton is completely wrong about the 2026 F1 cars
Mercedes star Kimi Antonelli noticed that Ferrari were dealing with understeer when he watched from trackside, but Leclerc clearly found a set-up to run at a strong pace while protecting the tyres.
Ferrari are readying ‘a lot’ of upgrades for the second Bahrain test, so they could yet take another step before pre-season comes to an end.
How worried should Ferrari be about Lewis Hamilton’s latest testing comments?
Hamilton’s verdict on the 2026 F1 cars has been lukewarm so far, with the Briton suggesting on Wednesday that they were lapping at ‘GP2’ pace.
But looking at the qualifying times from last year’s Formula 2 round at Sakhir, a 1:44.0 was good enough for pole position. Leclerc was nearly 10 seconds quicker than that mark on Thursday.
Overall, the cars have been closer to 2025 performance than forecast, although Hamilton may simply ‘feel’ slow because of the significantly reduced downforce.
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