F1 testing: Fake cars, dirty tricks and why you shouldn't trust what you see

It's that time of year again, when F1 pre-season testing gets underway, and we all try to guess which team might be the dominant force for the year to come.

This year we're being treated to 11 days worth of testing, with F1 attempting to help teams get better prepared for the 2026 regulation changes that are sweeping into the sport.

Five days of testing are taking place this week at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya behind closed doors, before the teams move on to Bahrain for two three-day events in February.

On top of this, we have had the teams showing off their 2026 cars at lavish launch ceremonies in recent weeks, as we all revel over who has the nicest livery.

But how much can we really read from all of this pre-season shenanigans? And are teams even showing off their real cars?

2026 giving teams (and us) headaches

So far, we have seen seven teams out on track during the private shakedown in Barcelona.

Williams have confirmed that they won't be present at all in Barcelona due to their car not being ready yet, while McLaren, Ferrari and Aston Martin are all going to join later in the week.

It really is interesting to see how different teams are coping with the wholesale changes, and during Monday's morning session in Barcelona it was Haas who managed to complete the most laps.

But how much does any of this really mean in the grand scheme of things?

We've already seen Honda covering up parts of their new power unit design during their power unit launch show so to stop anybody from trying to copy them, while Alpine's car launch show featured a car that bears no resemblance to their actual 2026 car other than through the livery.

Haas also only opted to drop renderings of their car during the launch, again hiding the true design, and all teams are protecting their ideas with the hope that they are the ones who have mastered the regulations reset and will be top of the pile at the Australian Grand Prix in March.

The Barcelona shakedown is not going to be representative at all, with a lot of the teams' designs not even fully ready, but Bahrain could be where we start to see the true pace unleashed.

Even then, however, previous years suggest that we do need to be careful not to predict the grid order based off testing, particularly when there are new regulations to contend with.

Past shenanigans tell us to be wary

2014 was the last time that we had both power unit and car design regulation overhauls to contend with, and that year's pre-season testing was particularly interesting, with cars breaking down all over the place.

Red Bull's struggles were well documented with their Renault power unit, yet they still managed to finish second in the constructors' championship, picking up three race wins along the way through Daniel Ricciardo.

Mercedes, meanwhile aced pre-season testing, and were everybody's favourites heading into the season. Yet even the final three days of the final test saw them suffer with reliability issues, and Lewis Hamilton retired from the season-opening Australian Grand Prix with a power unit failure, before the team went on to win all but three of the races that year.

The point is that 2026 is likely going to see so much car development and progression from different teams at different rates. The 2026 Australian GP could well see a completely different competitive order to the season-ending Abu Dhabi GP.

Then there's the hiding of real pace from certain teams. Mercedes in 2019 opted to 'sandbag' their car, hiding their real pace, and making the paddock think that their domination could finally be coming to an end. Valtteri Bottas won the first race of the season by over 20 seconds.

Going back as far as 2001, Alain Prost's F1 team opted for the opposite approach. Suffering from financial trouble, Prost Grand Prix opted to run on low fuel throughout the 2001 pre-season testing in the hope of attracting more sponsors and investors. The car looked quick, but finished that season down in ninth in the constructors' championship and ultimately folded at the end of the season.

So, whatever you do over the next few weeks, don't read too much into testing!

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