F1 Testing 2026: Bahrain schedule, start times, TV channel and live stream

F1 Testing 2026

F1 Testing 2026: Bahrain schedule, start times and how to watch live

All 11 teams and 22 drivers will be on track at last in Bahrain

Graham Shaw Consultant Editor

Digital sports specialist running global brands for 30 years

Thursday 12 February 2026 22:15 Updated: 00:41

F1 testing in 2026 continues on Friday (February 13) as the countdown to the new season reaches fever pitch.

We are now less than one month out from the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, when the battle for championship glory gets underway once again.

With a new wide-ranging set of regulations sweeping into the sport, testing is even more important than before in 2026 and we have already had a five-day shakedown in Barcelona.

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Now for the first time we have all 11 cars and 22 drivers (Williams, we missed you) on track this week in Bahrain this week. And here is all the detail you need.

Bahrain testing schedule and starting times

Bahrain got under way on Wednesday and continued on Thursday, and now we have just one day left (Friday February 13).

Today will be split into two sessions with a one-hour lunch break between. Times are as follows:

Session One: 10am-2pm local time (7am-11am UK, 8am-noon CET, 2am-6am Eastern).

Session Two: 3pm-7pm local time (noon-4pm UK, 1pm-5pm CET, 7am-11am Eastern).

TV channel and live stream - how to watch live

Okay there is some good news here, but not an awful lot.

You will remember that the shakedown in Barcelona at the end of January was a total TV blackout - no coverage allowed whatsoever as the sport navigates to a new era with new regulations. Things are slightly better for the three days in Bahrain - but only slightly.

Only one hour of TV coverage will be allowed (Sky Sports F1 will broadcast in the UK while F1 TV of course is an option). Check your TV guide for local listings, wherever you are in the world.

That TV coverage each day is 6pm-7pm local time (3pm-4pm UK, 4pm-5pm CET, 10am-11am Eastern).

Fans in the UK also have the added bonus of a 'Ted's Notebook' from the great Ted Kravitz - that will air on Sky Sports F1 at 8.30pm UK (9.30pm CET, 3.30pm Eastern, 12.30pm Pacific).

Is F1 testing open to fans?

If you just happen to be in Bahrain this week, the good news is you can actually get to watch a lot of the testing action live at the track.

Fans can buy tickets for today at a cost of BD10 (around £19) for adults or BD5 (around £9.50) for children aged 3-12.

In the even more unlikely event that you are in Bahrain this week AND you bought a ticket for the 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix before September 8 last year, you can get in absolutely FREE.

2026 F1 grid - who is driving in Bahrain testing?

So the great news is that we will have all 11 teams, and all 22 drivers, on track at some stage this week. Remember that Williams missed Barcelona completely and Aston Martin rocked up quite late - apparently they didn’t even have the time to paint their new car.

That means Lewis Hamilton will be back on track after a hectic week with rumoured new girlfriend Kim Kardashian which took him to the Cotswolds, Paris and then Super Bowl LX in California.

Also we have good news that Mercedes phenom Kimi Antonelli is in Bahrain and at full health after being in a car crash in San Marino.

One important thing to note here is that teams will only run one car at a time, so sessions will be split between drivers. We will have scenarios where one driver will take the first session and hand over for the second. Or one driver will take both sessions and the other driver will sit out the entire day.

We now have exact details of who will be driving when with plans confirmed for all teams.

The full driver lineup for 2026 looks like this:

Teams	Drivers
McLaren	Oscar Piastri, Lando Norris
Mercedes	George Russell, Kimi Antonelli
Red Bull	Max Verstappen, Isack Hadjar
Ferrari	Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton
Williams	Alex Albon, Carlos Sainz
Racing Bulls	Liam Lawson, Arvid Lindblad
Haas	Esteban Ocon, Oliver Bearman
Audi	Gabriel Bortoleto, Nico Hulkenberg
Aston Martin	Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll
Alpine	Pierre Gasly, Franco Colapinto
Cadillac	Sergio Perez, Valtteri Bottas

Those new 2026 regs, and what to look out for in testing

The next three days in Bahrain will give us our best sense yet of how the grid might shape up in Melbourne on Sunday March 8. It is very much a new world with those sweeping new regulations coming into the sport.

As of right now, the hype is largely around Mercedes having the edge with its W17 car (though there is an ongoing battle raging about compression ratio which could yet end up in a courtroom).

McLaren (with a Mercedes power unit of course) are expected to be strong again after claiming both the drivers’ and constructors’ championships in 2025, while Red Bull and their new Ford power unit had a pretty smooth shakedown in Barcelona.

There is of course also considerable buzz around Aston Martin, with design genius/new team principal Adrian Newey rolling out his first car since that blockbusting move from Red Bull.

Finally, there will always be hype around Ferrari at the start of any season, and after a miserable 2025 for Hamilton and Charles Leclerc all eyes are now on the SF-26.

Written by

Graham Shaw - Consultant Editor

Digital sports leader with 30 years of senior level experience running global brands. Built sportinglife.com to be a behemoth in the UK as well as being in charge of the Planet Sport network of sites including planetf1.com, football365.com, teamtalk.com and planetrugby.com. Then grew goal.com to be the world's biggest soccer website in 18 languages and 37 territories. Was GM of Portals for Perform Group (now DAZN) with overall responsibility for sportingnews.com, spox.de and voetbalzone.nl.

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Bahrain Grand Prix F1 Testing