Esteban Ocon calls Ferrari’s 2026 F1 engine ‘incredible’ at Bahrain testing

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Ferrari ran smoothly on day two of the Bahrain test while some of their rivals hit problems. Charles Leclerc completed a mammoth 139 laps, in addition to setting the fastest time.

Meanwhile, Red Bull spent almost the entire morning in the garage due to a hydraulic problem for Isack Hadjar. Mercedes were limited to 57 laps as a team after an early power unit change for Kimi Antonelli.

Lando Norris hit 149 laps in the McLaren, the highest count of the day, but did have a brief stoppage at the end of the pit lane.

Bahrain testing day 2 belongs to Charles Leclerc

What was your main takeaway from today? 🤔

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In further encouragement for Ferrari, customer teams Haas (Oliver Bearman) and Cadillac (Valtteri Bottas, Sergio Perez) combined for 239 laps. Perez did stop on track early on, but the problem was rectified swiftly.

Haas driver Esteban Ocon praises Ferrari engine reliability

After the first two days of testing, the Ferrari-powered teams have logged a staggering 732 laps. They are building up invaluable knowledge about the new-for-2026 engines.

Mercedes generated most of the hype after the Barcelona Shakedown, while Toto Wolff claimed Red Bull had the best engine on Monday. Perhaps Ferrari are slipping under the radar.

Of course, reliability isn’t the only ingredient for success – Ferrari are still working on their energy deployment and chasing horsepower – but it’s the most important one at this stage.

Is Toto Wolff playing mind games with Red Bull?

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“I like the challenge,” Esteban Ocon told Sky IT of the new rules. “It’s the first real rule change since I’ve been in Formula 1, and it’s interesting. It’s easier to overtake with boost management.

“In Barcelona, ​​I did 150 laps and everything went well; the reliability of the Ferrari engine is incredible.

“Driver feedback will help the team understand where to work. It’s great, but difficult to drive F1 cars now; you have to do go-kart-style manoeuvres to recharge, for example. It’s difficult to brake because the car comes into corners quickly: it lacks a bit of grip at the front.”

Esteban Ocon reveals whether any midfield team has caught the top four

As F1’s new era has approached, fans have wondered whether the rule changes could shake up the pecking order. For instance, Mercedes leapt from the midfield to the front of the grid in 2014, the last time there was a revolution of this scale.

Aston Martin have had a troubled start to testing, puncturing the hype around Adrian Newey’s first car. They had been seen as the likeliest dark horse.

Ocon separately told Sky IT that the top four teams still appear to be ‘far ahead’, a conclusion supported by the data. That may disappoint some fans.

Equally, it could be argued that most of F1’s top drivers represent one of those four teams, so it’s no bad thing if they are the protagonists in this year’s title fight.