F1 Testing 2026 – Second Test, Day 3

Hello everybody and welcome back to the Vivo podcast with Matt and Tommy final day done

that's it testing is in the locker and for audio listeners I am wrapping myself in a

Ferrari flag as we speak Tommy I feel like we've just won the world championship and it was testing

I am on cloud nine you on the other hand with your go 1.1 seconds off the fastest time you know

I'm not going to gloat at all it's literally only testing but I am I am feeling far too much elation

for what is not even free practice one this is less meaningful than what an FP1 would be

yeah cut to the last five podcasts of Matt saying testing times don't matter

I think I always said unless Ferrari are fastest and that's exactly what's happening

here we are and here we are and boy were they fastest by quite a way indeed

they were indeed we'll get into that and a lot more so let's start with a question

from fer pregunton 41 is this finally Ferrari's year yes categorically

it's in the locker I'm sorry no I shouldn't have said that I feel bulletproof right now I really do

yeah well I am absolutely cooked I'm absolutely cooked Tommy because this is the

the most I've believed since 2022 when when Charlotte Clair won Australia by a country mile

and I just like just a testing yeah relax yourself I mean I should relax myself yeah you

should look I'm allowed to get excited because this is this is what I've been waiting for

we are two very different fans Tommy you are a fan that has had glory you just bar you literally

were asking for people to catch max for snap and up so you can watch your your driver fight other

people yeah I finally believe that Ferrari genuinely have a chance of winning the world

championship and I know I'm getting ahead of myself I know a lot of you will be sighing ah

here he goes again but this one feels different they they have had phenomenal reliability the

only time they conked out was when they were testing low fuel slash no fuel with Lewis Hamilton's

car I totally fully believed that it wasn't anything else they've been fast but most importantly of all

Charlotte Clair has been smiling and that is something that should tell you all you need

to know about what that car is like okay wow yeah I do think Ferrari are exceptionally good

I think I think they are good this year they've definitely surprised a lot of people if you go

back to you know our predictions you know even you you didn't have much hope all the talk we

heard about it it's I cannot believe how much this has flipped 180 from them being completely

useless as Ferrari you know they've not got the right power unit it's all going wrong

Charlotte Clair wants to leave all this kind of stuff to now being here after testing not even

seen you know a competitive session yet and everyone's saying surely it's Ferrari's year

like all the questions were Ferrari's year I think it's probably you know Matt won't agree but

worth taking a step back from the Hopium maybe maybe just you know put the Hopium down a little bit

I'm currently completely hooked up to it I do understand why Ferrari fans are absolutely hyped

like an insane amount but we've seen this before with Ferrari with with testing I know not maybe not

to this extent but you know you get you go back to last year Ferrari set a lap time half a second

quicker than McLaren so we've we've seen this before don't don't don't come with the effects

I also do want to something else I looked into as well was the pecking order prediction after

2025 testing and for I was second and so they do like to get hyped a lot after testing

well they did fight for second until they didn't and true I guess they were fighting for second

yeah in the championship but no rebel was one car team but but they love a glory run in testing

don't they and and at the end of the day they they are looking a lot stronger I do I do genuinely

believe this is the best shape they are have been in since 22 however to say that you know I think

they're going to be that clear I do think Mercedes are holding back massively now I never said they

were going to be clear I believe in miracles and is it unfolding look I don't believe that

Chaldeclerc and Ferrari 8 tenths clear of the rest of the field char was doing literal qually sim

runs for the last it felt like half an hour of testing he kept putting on fresh sets of tires

it is inflated don't get me wrong I know this but at the same time there is nothing bad about him

putting in a 31 9 when other teams are struggling to get into the 33s 32s so let's go to another

question but before I do I also forgot to mention in my list of things I'm really excited about was

of course the lot the the starts as well like that's something else to add to the equation

that Ferrari have clearly done very well P1 Patriot member Aries is the Ferrari PU start

as significant as everyone seems to be saying is it likely to only provide an advantage for a

couple of races before other PU providers work something out it's true I think everyone will

be looking at it now although from what my understanding is it's the way that Ferrari

built their turbo and that's why they're able to do that start so you're not going to see

teams redesign their entire turbo just for a better start you'd assume I mean that's a massive

change but Ferrari knew that this kind of long startup was a thing and have built their car

around it and we saw again today they look very quick off the line Olly Bearman from the back row

in of course the the Ferrari powered house absolutely shot off the line

however what we did see as well was maybe teams working out a little bit more only yesterday

we were talking about McLaren and how they looked pretty useless with their their starts and looked

like the the worst and Lando had a very very good start indeed and rocketed off the line so

maybe it was incredibly exciting watching it and I do still think that they're going to have

a very nice time off off the starts whether they're going to be Lewis Hamilton 9th to 1st

like we saw yesterday we don't know and teams will will eventually get it right of course but

if they do have this they need to sort of make the most of it while it happens and I guess Australia

is probably not the place where you can best utilize it yeah I think that the advantage will

be there more so at the start of the year as the teams figure out how to launch these cars off the

line because it's a completely different procedure I don't believe it's going to be anywhere near

as big as what's been hyped up on social media and of course the Hamilton from 9th on the grid

taking 1st into turn 1 I think it might be worth one or two positions in Australia that that's

where I think we sit right now but only with certain teams McLaren and Lando Norris had just

as good a start marginally maybe worse than than Bearman's but it wasn't you know massively different

so of course in the next couple of weeks in practice they will have more attempts and more

chances to hone in those starts even more so and I think that they will I would love to say that

Ferrari are going to gain handfuls of positions if they need to off the line when I just don't think

it will be the case it's just more about teams learning and these are practice starts it's not

like we're actually seeing grid starts we won't see one till Australia then we can assess just

how much if any Ferrari you know how much Ferrari are gaining in actual race start

occasions next question Matthew Fassend won since Max clearly doesn't like the new regulations do you

think there's a chance that this will be his final season no I don't think this will be his final

season I have seen that he has been quite vocal of course about the regulations he's been vocal

about how long he will stay in Formula One and that the regulations aren't going in the way that he

likes and therefore it's shortening the amount of time he will stay in Formula One and I I

absolutely believe and respect what he has said about life being short and he wants to do other

things with his time that mean more to him like Formula One World Championships of course mean

a huge amount to him but also spending time with his family and his friends and now of course

his newborn that there are other priorities in his mind that you know that you've got to respect

that he's he's achieved in his mind at least or at least what he tells us enough in Formula One

so I don't think it'll be his last year this year I think that honestly maybe by the time he's 30

that's when he would hang up the gloves and not race in Formula One anymore I don't see him retiring

sooner than that from the pinnacle of the sport because as much as he says all of that there's

of course the other side of him that's pulling him saying but you literally love racing more than

anything in the world and you are on the sim all the time and clearly there's it's his biggest

passion in life so that's something that he's clearly sort of having to deal with both sides of

that in his brain but no I don't think it's the end this year but I think on that with his racing

brain and how he much he loves racing the enjoyment of racing he is a driver that

while people may look and laugh and find it ridiculous that he genuinely

takes it as seriously things like his sim racing or every other thing as important as Formula One

yes Formula One is like the pinnacle of motorsport but you stick him in a GT car or anything or like

what he's doing at the Nürburgring it's the most important thing in the world to him and he wants

to win and if he gets much more enjoyment from doing things like that yeah he is going to go

off and do something different I don't think it'll be as last year I think you'll see how

things develop particularly with how competitive they'll be because I know he says even if I'm

winning I'll leave I don't I don't necessarily believe him that like fully on that I do I do

think that there is an element to that about the kind of if I don't like the rules I'll go

but if Red Bull did find something halfway through the season I don't think he's going to go

no I will pack this in because there will be an opportunity to you know race at the front surely

you think you'd want to stay a bit longer but I'm sure in my opinion I think he will see out his

Red Bull contract or it's crazy isn't it now which is all that talk of Mercedes 2028 which

takes him to 30 a couple more years and then maybe he calls it quits does seem like the Mercedes

rumors and all that have kind of died down a bit now and him leaving Red Bull and maybe

that whole Christian Horner thing and the the way they had that amazing end to last year maybe

the team harmony has changed that narrative a bit more now and maybe it's just a case where

he spends a couple more years at Red Bull sees out his contract and then off he goes to

spend more time with with family and do the odd Nurburgring race because that's a lot more

you can spend a lot more time at home doing the odd Nurburgring race than 24 and that's 24 races

now never mind how many it's going to be in two years time. Formula one would be so much worse

off without Max Verstappen on the grid he genuinely is one of the pulls of the sport and you know

love of course the people that hate him will say otherwise but what he brings of course is his

natural talent but just his way of going about things as well the way he races it is just so

is such an entertaining character and I would be gutted you know I'm you know I want Charlotte

Clair to win the world championship but I'd be absolutely gutted to see Max Verstappen bow out

at this stage of his career because I think he would end up regretting it and I think that he

would want to even maybe come back who knows but like I just don't want to see that progression I

want to you know have his career that's long enough that everyone go cool don't worry now

you can go I don't want him to bow out too early because we've seen greats in the past want to

come back after after going and yeah Formula one. Let's go to the next question which is from

P1 patron member Cheesehead Dave. Do you think Aston Martin is going to be able to finish

the first race in Melbourne? It's looking very McLaren Honda isn't it for Aston Martin at the

moment? I read online that the longest run they've done in a race stint is 26 laps before the car

broke down with Fernando Alonso so they've not even managed to do that yet they did six laps

today and then released a statement to say we are done like that was our program today to aim for

six laps is absolutely insane because last time I checked the even sprint races aren't six laps

long so they're going to be in Struggletown big time and yeah I would not be surprised if we saw

Fernando Alonso a very familiar scene in Fernando Alonso's career of him conking out in like 20 laps

into the Grand Prix. I don't think Aston Martin are finishing Melbourne by all the data that we've seen

because it's embarrassing either way right if they DNF or if they're really really slow and try to

go to the end but I just can't see Alonso agreeing to that I can't see Stroll agreeing to that of

going oh well let's just go get some data at eight seconds a lap off the pace and then you know you've

entering like a hundred and seven percent rule questions which of course was brought in due to

pay drivers in many many years ago but like genuinely how slow will Aston Martin need to go in order

to take that car to the end of the Australian Grand Prix it is an unknown so for me right now it looks

like they are in in big big trouble like genuinely can't even be Cadillac trouble which is utterly

insane and so embarrassing for Aston Martin and Honda of course there seems to be little bits of

pointing fingers here there and everywhere of who's actually at fault but it's it's a failure of the

team it's a failure that you can't say that you can't just point it as Honda's fault or it's it's

this person's fault that's what it's it's a failure of the team and clearly the harmony that they have

with Honda and you know what I've seen kind of snippets of them saying oh they've got lots of

data it's like no you don't in comparison to the other teams no you don't yeah they don't have enough

data at all there's no one else running a Honda engine I know exactly you're so right about them

pointing the finger as well because you know they've had gearbox issues that they're making their own

you know they're making their own gearbox for the first time this year which is a huge challenge

in itself and they need to learn I know it's very easy that they want to kind of save face

they've built this amazing factory they've bought Adrian Newey on board and it would be very easy

to save face and just blame Honda for everything and say Honda are useless why did we go with Honda

but they need to learn from McLaren in a way because you know McLaren they had an absolute

nightmare they did very much the same thing of saying you know the Honda engines rubbish it's

all Honda blah blah blah it's all Honda they switched to Renault engines and they would know

when it like they were all also breaking down all the time and and it wasn't working for them

and then of course Red Bull took the Honda engine on board and started winning immediately and ended

up winning the world championship so yeah they need to they need to like work together with Honda

rather than making them scapegoats and I really hope that doesn't doesn't happen because of course

the memes are going to be flying around that it's Fernando Londo again with a Honda engine that's

in the back of his car that's not delivering but it's quite clear that there's a lot more problems

than just what Honda are doing I think absolutely question from Marco MG02 can Aston Martin turn

this around we could always have 2023 McLaren as a reference probably not by mid-season but maybe in

the last races they could be fighting for higher positions kind of more of a statement but I guess

the start was a question uh it's it's such an unknown like how do you weigh in on this because

the final test that they've had was an absolute disaster so they've it's not like this is the

first day and we've got two more weeks of testing this is where they've finished and they've got

you know an abundance of problems yes they will be able to improve there's no doubt about that

but they need more data they need more running I think the first half of the season is going to be

utterly embarrassing for them and then perhaps with the amount of data that they will then have

accrued through all of that be able to improve but the problem is we've already said that it

can change from track to track maybe this year in terms of the pecking order and everybody's

learning as well it's not like Aston are chasing a non-moving line everybody else is still learning

and they'll continue to learn in Australia and beyond so they're going they are so far behind

and I think they will continue to be for for almost the entire season that they genuinely

need to get to 2027 I think at this stage from what we've seen uh as quickly as possible so

for me I don't think they turn this around to the extent of what some people might be saying

oh they could be fighting for points at some point I cannot see that how do they you know

that they're slow and their reliability is terrible that there's no good points

yeah you're right they are so far off and it's funny is the wrong word painful um as a Fernando

Lanzo fan but we've seen this with uh how the narrative was always pushed towards 2026 and

they said this is our plan for 2026 we're going to be fighting at the grid I can remember Lawrence

saying that when they did that big extravagant James Bond kind of launch in 2021 I believe it was

saying this is our plan five-year plan we're in that five-year plan now and I saw that Nate Saunders

who's a journalist for ESPN and in the paddock said it basically was did a tweet saying it's

funny how all the messaging from Aston Martin is now 2026 there's always a test year you know

suddenly it's now 27 or 28 when things are going to change and yeah it's an embarrassing look because

they really really pushed for this and as we've said so many times on this podcast they went so

ham with this Adrian Newey thing and unsurprisingly it got a lot of people very very hyped you know

particularly Fernando Lanzo fans and particularly over in Spain thinking that this was his moment

and it's not looking good at all and I don't see them turning it around anytime soon and Fernando

doesn't have the time left so what do they do then does Alonzo go does he does he decide enough's

enough and yeah it's looking maybe that could be the case but you just know with Fernando that

the second he pulls the plug they find something and they're amazing it would be Fernando wouldn't it

Max goes there wins or championship well yeah I mean we joked about that earlier didn't we I think

on the watch long maybe of you know Max Verstappen could have well gone to Aston Martin this year

with everything that was rumoured can you imagine I think then he would have absolutely

what do we say probably we just left Aston Martin and gone to Mercedes or something but

yeah it's just mad to think about a potential scenario that of course didn't unfold but there

was yeah there was a lot of links there there's Adrian Newey there's Honda he could have easily

gone right let's go to a question from P1Patreon member Bex P who is your current pick for best of

the rest how's it looking good I would say they've been very very impressive so far maybe Alpine

surprise a little bit at the end there they've got the Mercedes power as well and we know they were

a team that did go all in the only thing I worry about Alpine is I remember the talk of them being

kind of best of the rest last year and then were easily the you know the worst team so taking it

with a pinch of salt but Haas have really been impressive you know amazing starts like Ferrari

bulletproof reliability and yeah I think that Haas are looking very very strong indeed

my pick for best of the rest right now is Haas as well they've been fast they're not top four

fast but they've shown decent pace but they've also put in an absolutely ludicrous amount of

laps on the board today they did a hundred and seventy laps the most of anybody wow five ahead

of V-Carb and that was Lin Blad on his own so his poor neck I think he'll be icing that today

that's some rookie neck training right there yeah that's insane but but for Haas I think they've had

an absolutely brilliant test across the last couple of weeks so that plus the fact that they may

well have an engine underneath them that can gain them a position or two off the grid at the start

yeah if they're getting into Q3 they get out qualified by an Alpine see you later Alpine

we'll see you we'll see you after turn one we're ahead of you so that that's kind of where I'm

basing Haas at the moment but it can easily change as as we know but a really strong start

for Haas and I'm really happy for them they've got a lineup that I'm hoping you know for Ocon

Seiki brings it to Berman this year because Berman started to get some serious momentum but the two

of them should be able to get some great results next question people on pitch remember Ghost of

Indy 2005 the cars seem a lot more unstable in the corners during testing do you think we'll see

more accidents compared to last year this is an interesting question actually because you know

we're celebrating the fact that drivers can catch the car which you would think then sort of just

pushes them in a direction of being more aggressive with the car and therefore they will have more

moments and then potentially go into the side of someone however we have to also factor in

that these are of course testing you know they're doing maybe quality sims whatever it might be

they're pushing the car in race trim when they're also managing the battery and managing the tires

are we going to see them pushing as hard as that I don't think so on a sunday so I don't think there's

going to be any more or less accidents compared to last year we've got less rookies so maybe you'd

say slightly less accidents just purely down to the experience of the drivers rather than anything

else but then again the cars have changed massively I'm changing my opinion the more I talk but I don't

see the cars being a particular reason for more accidents no I think less if anything because

they can save them now with the ground effect here we were used to a slight moment where the

back end steps out you're going straight into the wall and you can't save it and now you know there's

there was an amazing moment where what's the

farce left-hander that a lot of people were running wide on and charlotte claire had that big

moment on I can't remember the exact turn number 10 yeah so yeah so that turn we saw a moment where

charlotte claire was basically like got a little bit out of shape still kind of kept his foot in

got a little bit out of shape again then kind of kept his foot in again and then got out of

shape again and almost lost it 11 11 absolutely bottled it but that's because I think they've

how is it is this is there oh no no no actually no I'm a fountain I was I was just wrong but no

but the last corner is two corners yeah which is again what I was going to use as my excuse but then

clearly as a matter of fact didn't see a turn 11 is the left hand a turn 12 is the the next right

but turn 11 yeah you saw a lot of people kind of sliding and they could save it and years gone by

it's just you're darting off in the other direction it's impossible to save it because

of the aerodynamics of the floor and now it is fun to watch you know for all the complaining about

these rules and I'm still adamant you know I don't like the the fact that we're hearing the word

management too much and battery this battery that I absolutely hate that side to put a positive

spin on it one thing I do like is if they're talking about less grip then great because

less grip is more exciting to watch we're seeing and wrestle the car I'd love watching them like

you know they do look what we were promised in the fact that they are more nimble and and dartier

like we kind of saw in years gone by compared to the the kind of big trucks that we saw in years

gone by and let's just hope they can race because fingers crossed but yes I agree I love seeing the

the drivers wrestle the car that's that's like top tier that's what we want to see is the drivers

using their incredible skill to to haul a car around around a lap now I had touched upon the

mileage I said Haas was the most with 170 v-carb 165 let me run you through the rest of the order

of today Williams did 141 Audi did 135 Ferrari 132 Mercedes 131 Rebel 124 Alpine 118 McLaren 113

Cadillac 99 and Aston Martin 6 so almost the entire field Bar Aston Martin did 100 laps

Cadillac one more lap and that would have been so much of a nicer cleaner stat to say but again

huge amounts of mileage for the teams and it's a phenomenal job from from Audi again I have to

shout them out you're putting 135 laps on the board and just you know being this new team

is brilliant Cadillac again with 99 laps on the board yes they're slow yes Bottas beat Perez by

5.5 seconds I wasn't going to bring that up but I've got to back my my go Bottas 4-2 up now

for the Bahrain testing period but overall you've to get the aggregate time on yeah no we're not

doing any aggregate no BS none of that stuff but yeah the mileage has been really impressive and

has to be said that the teams are in good shape to be able to improve these cars definitely and

Audi as you mentioned we talk about Aston Martin and how oh you know they should have

started with Mercedes they why did they try something new Audi have you know done something new

and yes they had they had a difficult start I think they were breaking down a few times

but they seem to have got on top of it and they're showing decent pace as well as good

reliability so yeah I've been I've been very impressed with Audi how they've turned it around

and I guess Aston Martin maybe the only kind of saving grace that they could look at someone like

Audi and think they figured it out quite quickly hopefully they can do the same but we all know

that Aston Martin are in a lot more of a struggle than Audi were yeah Audi and Cadillac should be

what Aston Martin are not not not this way around it's crazy as Bruno has entered the building as

we asked going to go say goodbye so there's a question from 7th Francis B7 what is your

post testing team order well my team order is you'll have to wait because we're doing

a 20 second to first prediction as our next video we'll put it out early next week and it is going

to be it's going to be fun I'm really looking forward to this one I feel like I have a good idea

but I really look forward to again at the end of the year reflecting on how wrong we were

I find that one really difficult as well because you put in a driver and then you go oh they couldn't

be there but then they're not higher than others and lower than others and it's always a really

difficult one to do but I am looking forward to it and the fact that it's a new regulation as well

makes it more random I guess of what we're we're going to be predicting and how much the teams

are going to evolve as it's going to be really fun fun one and hopefully some more disagreements

because last time I think we did the top five the same which I hope doesn't happen again absolutely

I am as you can see very excited about the upcoming season a couple of weeks until we're

lights out of course we'll have our watch along back and everything else in between we'll have a

Formula 1 season that is it thank you everybody Ferrari on top in testing and I cannot wait

for my inevitable heartbreak throughout the 2026 season but I will have Bruno to cuddle so that's

fine bye everybody bye bye have you had dinner

P1 is a stack production and part of the ACAST Creator Network

F1 Testing 2026 – Second Test, Day 3

About this episode

Ferrari

testing times

FP1

Lewis Hamilton

Charlotte Leclerc

power unit

PU

turbo

startup

off the line

McLaren

Formula 1

launch procedure

Formula One

Nürburgring

contract

natural talent

Aston Martin

Honda

DNF

107 percent rule

gearbox

Red Bull

world championship

mid-season

Mercedes

Alpine

best of the rest

race trim

ground effect

laps

Audi

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