Lewis Hamilton just provided the funniest ever F1 testing moment

Lewis Hamilton smiling from ear to ear in 2026 red and white Ferrari F1 windbreaker — Photo: © IMAGO

Pre-Season Testing

Lewis Hamilton just provided the funniest ever F1 testing moment

Live TV don't love you back...

Originally written by Chris Deeley. This version is a translation.

Tuesday 17 February 2026 17:00

It’s an unspoken (and fairly obvious) truth about anyone who covers sports: we like to be right. It’s equally true that we’re… often not.

Most people learn to live with that. But not everyone is proven wrong quite as quickly, completely, and hilariously as F1 technical expert Sam Collins was during pre-season testing in Bahrain this week.

We’ve got a lot of affection for Sam on these pages (and honestly, he probably should have been right — this really isn’t his fault), but a clip of him at the end of the pit lane in Bahrain was simply impossible to ignore. Armando Iannucci himself couldn’t have written a better punchline.

Article continues under video

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

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.

F1 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari