Welcome back to F1 Burnouts! Pre-season testing is done, the cars are being shipped to Melbourne, and the 2026 era of Formula One begins at Albert Park. Week Two just threw a few spanners into last week's rankings — so we're breaking down everything from the final three days in Bahrain.

Topics covered:

- Leclerc tops the combined timesheets with a 1:31.992

- Ferrari's radical 180-degree upside-down rear wing

- Hamilton's disrupted Week Two and spare parts shortage

- McLaren's 817 laps — most of any team

- Mercedes emerge as pre-season favourites

- Toto Wolff calls Red Bull Ford engine "the benchmark"

- Aston Martin's Honda nightmare — The Race compares it to McLaren-Honda 2017

- Cadillac's surprisingly strong debut

- Start procedure controversy and Ferrari's political play

- Brundle, Hill, and Herbert weigh in on the new era

- Melbourne predictions and the Big Four battle

Timestamps:

0:00 - Welcome back to F1 Burnouts!

1:02 - Leclerc tops the timesheets

1:51 - Ferrari's upside-down rear wing

3:12 - Hamilton's disrupted testing

4:32 - McLaren's reliability and pace

5:43 - Mercedes: the testing favorites

6:50 - Verstappen and Red Bull

8:10 - Aston Martin's Honda nightmare

10:04 - Cadillac's bright start

11:18 - Start procedure controversy

12:41 - What the pundits are saying

14:24 - Melbourne predictions

15:35 - Midfield dark horses

16:31 - The magic of a new era

17:39 - Sign-off

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F1 Burnouts - Your weekly dose of Formula 1 passion, engineering deep-dives, and honest takes.

#F1 #Formula1 #Podcast #Motorsport #Racing #F1Burnouts

The first Bahrain pre-season test is done — three days of drama, driver revolt, and memes. Verstappen called the cars "Formula E on steroids" and liked the memes trashing them. Hamilton hit a 20-year low. And a 19-year-old topped the timesheets. We rank every team from 11 to 1, break down driver reactions, and cover everything that went viral.

Topics covered:

- Driver revolt: Verstappen, Hamilton, and Norris slam the 2026 cars

- Viral moments: Verstappen likes the memes, start procedure chaos

- The compression ratio controversy reshaping the season

- Aston Martin's 206-lap disaster and Newey's uphill battle

- Cadillac's impressive debut (with fake Pirelli tires)

- Racing Bulls, Williams, and Audi's radical B-spec sidepods

- Alpine's Mercedes engine gamble paying off

- Haas and Bearman's surprise rise to P5

- Red Bull Ford engine "the benchmark" — but Verstappen wants out

- McLaren's papaya pain: world champions falling to third

- Ferrari's Leclerc-Hamilton divide and the engineer shake-up

- Mercedes #1: Antonelli fastest, but reliability a question mark

- Championship predictions for 2026

- Five key takeaways the headlines are missing

Timestamps:

00:00 - Intro

00:41 - Driver revolt: Verstappen's "Formula E on steroids"

01:43 - Hamilton's 20-year low, Norris "F2 machinery"

02:47 - Viral moments: memes, start procedure chaos

04:08 - Compression ratio controversy

05:12 - #11 Aston Martin

07:01 - #10 Cadillac

08:16 - #9 Racing Bulls

09:21 - #8 Williams

10:34 - #7 Audi

11:48 - #6 Alpine

13:01 - #5 Haas

14:12 - #4 Red Bull

15:55 - #3 McLaren

17:58 - #2 Ferrari

20:34 - #1 Mercedes

22:50 - Championship predictions

23:34 - Five key takeaways

25:02 - Sign-off

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F1 Burnouts — Your weekly dose of Formula 1 passion, engineering deep-dives, and honest takes.

#F1 #Formula1 #Podcast #Motorsport #Racing #F1Testing #Bahrain2026

The FIA hands ten Formula One teams a brand new rulebook. Same rules, same pages, same words. And what do these teams do? They come back with ten completely different looking cars. One team flipped their rear wing upside down. Another showed up to testing with an entirely different car. And Adrian Newey designed something so radical a rival driver called it spectacular.

Topics covered:

- 2026 active aero regulations explained (X-mode & Z-mode)

- Adrian Newey's radical AMR26 and the 4-month wind tunnel delay

- Mercedes' rising sidepods and the zeropod trust issues

- Front wing nose pylon innovation (Mercedes & Aston Martin outliers)

- Williams' unique split suspension and the Vowles effect

- Alpine's "ghost wing" reverse rear wing activation

- Audi's B-spec sidepod bombshell at Bahrain testing

- Red Bull's extreme sealed diffuser approach

- McLaren's triangle floor solution

- Ferrari testing active aero in the rain

- Outwash vs inwash: the fundamental aero philosophy split

- Why the corner-to-straight transition will decide the championship

Timestamps:

00:00 - Opening hook

00:41 - Active aero regulations explained

01:32 - Why 2026 divergence is special

02:18 - Adrian Newey's Aston Martin story

02:58 - The four-month miracle and Russell's reaction

03:40 - AMR26's radical suspension

04:23 - Newey's nonchalance vs reliability concerns

05:09 - Mercedes and zeropod trust issues

05:46 - Mercedes' rising sidepod philosophy

06:35 - Front wing nose pylon innovation

07:20 - Williams' underdog story

07:55 - Williams hiding their suspension

08:33 - Alpine's ghost wing

09:20 - Alpine's endplate engineering

10:06 - Audi's B-spec Bahrain reveal

10:46 - Audi's fighter jet air scoops

11:29 - Red Bull's sealed diffuser

12:09 - McLaren's floor work

12:51 - Ferrari's wet-weather active aero gambit

13:37 - Who's right? The big picture

14:19 - Hot take: the transition moment

15:02 - The human element behind the engineering

15:49 - Reality check on pre-season predictions

16:25 - Sign-off

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F1 Burnouts - Your weekly dose of Formula 1 passion, engineering deep-dives, and honest takes.

#F1 #Formula1 #Podcast #Motorsport #Racing #F1Burnouts #Aero #2026