Ferrari claim Mercedes are 'hiding' at F1 testing

George Russell, Mercedes, 2026, Social — Photo: © IMAGO

Pre-Season Testing

Ferrari claim Mercedes are 'hiding' at F1 testing

A number of rivals have spoken about Mercedes this week

Chris Deeley

Monday 16 February 2026 22:00

Ferrari star Charles Leclerc has cautioned both supporters and the wider Formula 1 paddock that Mercedes are not revealing their full speed during pre-season testing.

The opening three days of official running were held in Bahrain last week, giving teams an early opportunity to understand their 2026 cars while also trying to gauge the competitiveness of their rivals.

Leclerc is not alone in suggesting that Mercedes may be disguising a significant performance edge over the course of the test.

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Max Verstappen accused the Silver Arrows of hiding something like a 20 horsepower advantage earlier in the week, saying: "Well, I can tell you one thing: just wait until Melbourne and see how much power they suddenly find."

Sandbagging is a traditional part of F1 preseason testing, with teams not wanting to show their rivals which unique aerodynamic elements and concepts might work until the very last possible moment. After all, you can't copy it if you don't know whether it works.

Leclerc: Teams can hide performance so many ways

"So in terms of performance itself, it’s very difficult to know. In terms of reliability we are looking good, and that’s true and that is a positive. But, at the end, performance is – as much as reliability – also a very important thing that we need to excel at, and we don’t really know where we are for now.”

He continued: “I think Red Bull showed a little bit more than Mercedes and they’ve been very impressive. I think Mercedes is hiding a massive amount, and only time will tell how much they’ve been hiding.”

Teams will run once again in Bahrain on Wednesday-Friday next week. After that, everyone will return to their respective factories to turn their learnings into tweaks to their cars, as there will be no further on-track running until teams arrive in Melbourne next month for the Australian Grand Prix.

Mercedes Charles Leclerc