Verstappen strikes fear into rivals with an impressive day of testing in Bahrain

20:15, 11 Feb

Updated: 20:47, 11 Feb

byNicole Mulder

The first day of testing in Bahrain made one thing clear: despite all the expectations around Mercedes and the new 2026 regulations, more and more points to the grid once again having to measure itself against Max Verstappen.

Verstappen did finish the day just behind Lando Norris on the timesheets, but the focus during testing is not on lap times. Verstappen completed by far the most laps of anyone: 136 in total, well over a full Grand Prix distance. In doing so, Red Bull once again showed not only consistently quick lap times, but also that its in-house power unit is reliable.

Verstappen impresses with complete package

Unlike many rivals, Verstappen was in action all day. That not only yielded a lot of data for the team, but also gave a clear picture of performance in race simulations. While Norris ultimately set the fastest time, Verstappen consistently ran at the front and improved his own lap times multiple times throughout the day.

What really set off alarm bells among the competition were Verstappen’s long runs. Answering GPblog's question, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff even said that the Austrian Formula 1 team is the absolute benchmark on the power unit front.

"The car, the power unit, (they) are the benchmark at the moment I would say. And then obviously you have Max in the car, that combination is strong,” he said.

Wolff points to Verstappen and Red Bull as top favorites

Wolff particularly highlighted Red Bull’s energy deployment, which, according to the Austrian, makes Verstappen’s team up to a second per lap faster. “Look at their energy deployment today. I mean, speaking a second a lap, over consecutive runs,” he explained. When asked, the Mercedes team principal admitted his own team currently has no answer to that.

Wolff’s comments are striking, not so much because he expressed high expectations for his own team—on the contrary, the Austrian remained cautious, despite the widespread outside expectation that Mercedes would set the tone at the start of the new era.

Max Verstappen in Bahrain - Photo: Red Bull Content Pool

What perhaps made the biggest impression in the paddock were Verstappen’s long runs. In multiple stints, he lapped within a few tenths of his previous times lap after lap, regardless of which compound he was on. He was especially consistent on the medium tyre, while many rivals were less so.

McLaren also still searching

The fact that Norris ultimately set the fastest time of the day changes little about the bigger picture. McLaren’s chief designer Rob Marshall told GPblog, among others, that last year’s world champions are still finding their feet.

He said: "I think it's fair to say we're still very much exploring at the moment. Understanding how to operate the power unit is very challenging and the car's behaving differently here than it did in Barcelona.

"Obviously we've got warmer temperatures, so getting on top of that is important, but really at the moment, we're really trying to understand the characteristics of the car without trying to dial it in, just how do you get the best out of them."

With winter testing, there’s always the caveat that it’s unclear what engine modes teams are running, what the fuel load is, and what else they might be holding back. It’s therefore quite possible that the picture will shift heading into the opening round in Australia—and even during the current test days—but it was Verstappen and Red Bull who set the tone in Bahrain on Day 1.