F1 plans to run wet tyre test in the DESERT

Pre-Season Testing

F1 plans to run wet tyre test in the DESERT

Right, what's all this about then?

Chris Deeley

Monday 16 February 2026 08:58

When you think of rain in F1, what do you picture? Spray flying up as a Ferrari takes Eau Rouge at nearly 200mph? Rivers running across the track at Interlagos after a storm arrives out of the blue? Umbrellas up in the grandstands at Silverstone as Maggotts and Becketts challenge drivers more than ever?

Naturally, Pirelli are planning a 'wet weather' test of their tyres before the start of the 2026 season, for exactly those circumstances. And just like you'd expect, they're conducting that test...in Bahrain.

That's Bahrain, the country currently hosting two weeks of winter testing because the weather is so reliably warm and dry. Bahrain, where some teams don't bother bringing a single set of inters or wets to a three-day test because, well, obviously it's going to be dry. That same Bahrain.

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We haven't reached out to Pirelli to double check that they didn't just CTRL+F 'rain' in one of their F1 docs and mistakenly click the first thing that came up without asking themselves 'oh, does the name of the place just have 'rain' as part of it and that's what's happened here?' (because we think they'd send us an angry email back), but just know that we've thought about it.

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Isola: Bahrain accommodates our weird requests

The Race reported on the test, due to be held the weekend before the season opener in Melbourne, and have confirmed that there is actually a plan for there to be water on the track.

Pirelli motorsport director Mario Isola explained: “They have a fantastic idea with sprinklers and some other devices. I have to say that Bahrain people are always very cooperative when we ask for strange requests.

“I gave a call to the guys here [in Bahrain] and I said, ‘what if we plan a wet test in Bahrain?’ They said 'yes, of course we can'.

“I asked ‘Are you sure? Let us think about it. But we need consistency in the water level because clearly the risk is that inconsistency in water level is more important than the difference in prototypes'. But they were clear. ‘Yeah, understood, we will consider to prepare the track and everything'."

Isola also claimed that the manufacturer is also looking to make the extreme wet tyres more usable than in previous years, where the real options appeared to be 'intermediate tyre or red flag for unsafe conditions'. While many will remain skeptical – the same sentiment has been offered in previous years, after all – the possibility remains of some better wet weather racing in 2026.

“What we have tried to do is to reduce the crossover time between the wet and intermediate in order to make the wet tyre more usable," he said.

“The point is that if you are in a race condition and the expectation is for the track to dry, they will put on an intermediate because they want to minimise the number of pitstops.”

F1 Pirelli