F1 2026: Lewis Hamilton just provided the funniest ever moment of F1 testing

Lewis Hamilton in Dior at Paris Fashion Week 2026 — Photo: © IMAGO

Pre-Season Testing

Lewis Hamilton just provided the funniest ever moment of F1 testing

Live TV don't love you back...

Chris Deeley

Sunday 15 February 2026 20:27

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It's an unspoken (and obvious) truth about anyone who covers sport that we like to be right. It's equally true that we...often aren't.

Everyone's learned to live with that. However, not everyone is proven wrong as quickly, completely and hilariously as F1 technical expert Sam Collins was at pre-season testing in Bahrain this week.

We've got a lot of love for Sam on these pages (and honestly, he should've been right! This isn't his fault!) but there's a clip of him at the end of the pitlane in Bahrain that we just couldn't ignore. Armando Iannucci couldn't have scripted it better.

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A little bit of background: the design of the new power units means that a number of cars need to rev up hard for an extended period in order to jump off the line properly – with the potential to leave some drivers stranded on the grid if they can't get their turbos spooled up in time.

Never do live TV with children, animals...or Ferraris

Ferrari, however, spotted this issue early and designed their power units to minimise the problem. After some shambolic-looking practice starts on the grid this week, grid procedure has become a hot topic, which resulted in Collins being stationed down the end of the pitlane to take in some solo practice starts and explain the concept to the viewer.

As Lewis Hamilton pulled up alongside him and stopped, he explained: "Now, some teams have tried to get the start sequence changed for the 2026 racing season, but that has apparently been blocked by this team, Ferrari, who don't have to rev the car for as long. Let's have a look..."

The No. 44 car then proceeded to rev its V6 engine for the best part of 25 seconds before disappearing in a squeal of wheelspin. The camera then panned back to Collins, who looked like a small child who just found out his dog ate his birthday cake.

It's a tough gig, live TV.

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