Our reaction to the first SECRET F1 test in 2026
P1 with Matt and Tommy
Stak
4.9 • 3K Ratings
🗓️ 26 January 2026
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
We're here with our reaction to one of the most confusing days of pre-season testing you'll see, as F1 tried (and failed) to keep secret an event they've been hyping up for weeks.
So, did people hack into the timing tower?! How high up the trees were the photographers? And what does the information we did get tell us about the current state of the F1 grid, 38 days out from the start of the season?
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello everybody and welcome back to the B1 podcast with Matt and Tommy. |
| 0:11.3 | Day one of the secret shakedown in Barcelona. |
| 0:19.1 | That's right. |
| 0:20.2 | The secret test is underway. |
| 0:22.5 | How secret was it? |
| 0:23.7 | Well, we're going to get into all of that and more. |
| 0:27.0 | But I think we need to, from the top, Tommy. |
| 0:30.0 | Firstly, how are you? |
| 0:31.4 | Are you feeling good that cars are back on track? |
| 0:33.8 | I am. |
| 0:34.6 | It's nice. |
| 0:35.4 | I would say it's nice to see them, but very limited. I enjoyed the |
| 0:40.6 | spy shots on Twitter and random people streaming the data, which then got shut down by |
| 0:51.2 | Formula One, which we'll talk about later. But yeah, crazy. What a bizarre thing. I've never experienced this in all the years I've watched F1. It's quite bizarre. No, exactly. And secondly, and I said firstly a long time ago, but secondly, let's get into exactly what's been going on. If you've been living under a rock or if you're just not that bothered about Formula One cars being on track in January and you're like, well, Australia isn't until March. Fair enough. We're here to wrap it all up for you |
| 1:14.6 | as best as we can. So normally, obviously, without the regulation change, we will get a few days |
| 1:20.5 | pre-season testing in Bahrain. That's what we would have if it was just another year of the same |
| 1:25.6 | regulation set. However, because of the rule shakeup, |
| 1:30.2 | we have still official F1 testing in Bahrain in a few weeks and there's two sets of three days. |
| 1:36.3 | But before that, right now we have a five-day shakedown. That's what's called shakedown. |
| 1:42.1 | I don't know if it's because Bahrain have spent millions of pounds to be the people that are the testing place. |
| 1:47.7 | Whatever it is, it's shakedown time in Barcelona. And within this shakedown, as much as it is five days, teams are only allowed to run in three of those five days. |
| 1:58.8 | So if they roll out the pits and do half of an outlap, that is it. |
... |
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