How to make the most of an unexpected five-week break? This is the question Formula 1 teams and drivers have had to answer after the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian grands prix were cancelled due to the outbreak of the Iran war, which has destabilised the Middle East as a whole.
There was no mandatory shutdown, so to some extent the plan was a no-brainer: postpone the planned April updates into a major car upgrade for Miami, hammer away at development – within the confines of the budget cap and aerodynamic testing restrictions – with every outfit’s simulator proving useful.
“The more you run on track, the more you learn about your car, the more you learn about the tyres, the more you learn about the whole thing,” Ferrari chassis technical director Loic Serra explained to Motorsport.
“So effectively, when you have less running, this learning is not happening. It sort of freezes your correlation for some time, for an additional two weeks, three weeks – but it only freezes. And it doesn’t stop you from developing based on what you have learned so far. It’s just more of a small interruption in your learning rates on the correlation side.”
But development is not all the teams did, so let’s recap every squad’s activities.
Mercedes
Doriane Pin, Mercedes
Photo by: Mercedes AMG
On 17 April, Mercedes caused a stir when it posted a photo of a driver tiptoeing in front of the Mercedes W12, with a helmet in their hand. The overalls were unnamed, and fans soon began speculating on the identity of the racer. Was Romain Grosjean finally getting the unfulfilled Mercedes test offered by team boss Toto Wolff five years ago?
But the most attentive viewers noticed this was Doriane Pin’s helmet. The reigning F1 Academy champion made her F1 test debut, covering 76 laps of the 2.639km Silverstone National Circuit; she currently competes in LMP2 in the European Le Mans Series.
“There is nothing compared to Formula 1,” the Frenchwoman told the Mercedes Nu Silver Arrows Radio Show after the test. “I drove in LMP2, it’s the first car we reach more than 300km/h on the straight, especially in Le Mans. 320km/h, 325km/h. But still, braking, combined downforce, the speed itself is another world compared to what I’m used to, and compared to what I’ve driven before.
“It’s something that you don’t expect until you drive it for the first time. Obviously, you need a bit of time to adapt and to understand how it works. But until you drive it, you have no idea how it feels, and how it will be.
“So, a lot of surprises today, even though we prepared quite a lot for this test. And I feel I was in the right window to have a good day because I’ve been working closely with the engineers and the team before, so I think we prepared well for this test. So I was comfortable in the car today.”
Mercedes’ current W17 also took to the track in a Pirelli test on 14-15 April at the Nurburgring, with George Russell and Kimi Antonelli completing 127 and 109 laps respectively.
McLaren
Lando Norris, McLaren
Photo by: Pirelli
McLaren joined Mercedes at the Nurburgring Pirelli test, where Oscar Piastri covered just 65 laps on day one due to a technical issue. Lando Norris then enjoyed a more productive 108 laps on day two.
And, like Mercedes, the papaya team gave track time to one of its juniors – namely reserve driver Leonardo Fornaroli. After covering 112 laps of the Barcelona track on 23-24 March, the reigning F2 champion was in action at Silverstone on 7 April, completing 68 laps of the grand prix layout.
“With it being my second test, the run plan was more advanced, so I got to try some different set-ups and run with different levels of fuel, which continues to support my understanding of driving a Formula 1 car,” the Italian commented.
But McLaren’s real deal over the break was signing Gianpiero Lambiase, Red Bull’s head of racing and Max Verstappen’s race engineer. Lambiase is expected to join the Woking-based outfit as its chief racing officer, reporting to team principal Andrea Stella, by 2028.
Red Bull
#3 Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing, Mercedes AMG GT3 EVO: Max Verstappen, Daniel Juncadella, Jules Gounon
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
And so Red Bull’s brain drain continues. Chief engineer Rob Marshall, chief mechanic Lee Stevenson, chief technical officer Adrian Newey, sporting director Jonathan Wheatley, head of strategy Will Courtenay, team principal Christian Horner and advisor Helmut Marko have all left the team in the past two-and-a-half years, with Lambiase joining them soon. New team boss Laurent Mekies has a squad to rebuild.
Track-wise, Isack Hadjar partook in a Pirelli test at Suzuka shortly after the Japanese Grand Prix, with several downpours turning it into wet-weather running. The French sophomore covered 103 laps over two days.
But all eyes turned to Verstappen, who took part in the Nurburgring 24h Qualifiers on 18-19 April amid the Dutchman’s frustration with F1’s new regulations. The Saturday race was curtailed by Juha Miettinen’s fatal crash; on Sunday, Verstappen built a lead of around 30 seconds before a damaged front splitter caused an unscheduled pitstop and ruled him and team-mate Lucas Auer out of contention.
The four-time world champion then performed a ‘filming day’ test at Silverstone, where Red Bull is rumoured to have trialled a Ferrari-style ‘Macarena’ wing among a number of upgrades.
Ferrari
Ferrari SF-26
Photo by: Federico Manoni / NurPhoto via Getty Images
Ferrari’s rotating rear wing is so innovative that it caused a stir in pre-season testing when it first appeared, before returning to action in free practice at the Chinese Grand Prix – but the Scuderia opted against using it in the weekend’s competitive sessions.
Ferrari trialled a new version of the wing in a ‘filming day’ test last week at Monza, along with a number of other updates, with both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton at the wheel.
Other than that, Ferrari tested last year’s car at the Mugello before the SF-26 also took to the track on 9-10 April, for a wet-weather Pirelli test on the artificially soaked Fiorano track; Hamilton completed 297 laps over the two days amid a busy break for the Coachella festival attendee.
“What break? There was no break at all,” sporting director Diego Ioverno told Motorsport during a Maranello visit. “We simply chose not to let it become one. We filled the weeks with activities that weren’t planned, or we distributed the ones that were already planned more effectively.”
Racing Bulls
Arvid Lindblad, Racing Bulls
Photo by: Peter Fox / Getty Images
Racing Bulls joined sister team Red Bull at the Suzuka Pirelli test. Liam Lawson completed 65 laps, but rookie Arvid Lindblad crashed out at Degner two on the second day, though he still covered 51 laps.
On the development side, the team has had to postpone its upcoming major update from Bahrain to Miami, but it will still be replaced by the following upgrade at the very next grand prix in Canada.
Haas
Esteban Ocon, Haas F1 Team
Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images
Clearly the surprise of 2026 as it currently sits fourth in the championship, Haas was on track at Silverstone on 21-22 April – but the Toyota-backed team was merely giving track time to reserve driver Ryo Hirakawa and development driver Sho Tsuboi via the Testing of Previous Cars regulations.
Oliver Bearman, who single-handedly vaulted Haas to its lofty position in the standings, attended the Monte Carlo Masters tennis competition alongside Russell, Leclerc, Piastri, Gabriel Bortoleto and Alexander Albon.
Meanwhile, Esteban Ocon was in the grandstands for Paris Saint-Germain’s clash against Liverpool in the Champions League.
Alpine
Franco Colapinto
Photo by: Vicky Dragonetti
Also in attendance at Parc des Princes was Pierre Gasly, though Franco Colapinto may have been the busier Alpine driver over the break.
Colapinto completed Alpine’s second ‘filming day’ of the season at Silverstone on 15 April, then starred in a unique demonstration run on Sunday. A reported 600,000 people gathered for the event in Buenos Aires’ Palermo district, where the Argentine drove the 2012 Lotus E20 and local hero Juan Manuel Fangio’s Mercedes W196.
This might appease some Argentinian fans, after arguably absurd conspiracy theories were blurted out on social media, to the extent that Alpine had to deny the sabotage claims.
“Franco is our driver and the team has placed its trust in him, just as he has with the team. That is an indication of the commitment we have to Franco and his place in the team with equal footing alongside Pierre,” Alpine stated on 2 April, with the full statement available here.
“Any questions about sabotage or not giving Franco the same car are completely unfounded, which is why the team felt the need to speak out. There might be times this year when pushing in the development race that upgrades come to one car first, which the team will communicate and be completely transparent about. That being said, the aim will always remain to bring upgrades to both cars where possible.
“It’s absolutely not in the team’s interests to not score points and any suggestion of self sabotage isn’t conducive to that ultimate end goal.”
Audi
Nico Hulkenberg, Audi F1 Team
Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images
Audi’s takeover of the Sauber outfit, using its own engines, has delivered just two points thus far – but the team’s performance level has been better than you’d think if you looked at the standings. Its first F1 power unit has earned praise from rivals, but that’s still the main area where the team is seeking improvement.
Getaways at lights out stand out as a tricky point, but the issues stretch further. “The car is unstable in braking, unstable in acceleration because of the harshness of the gear change,” Mattia Binotto, head of the Audi F1 project, told F1.com. “Maybe the ratio arrangements are not right. There is so much on drivability, as much as on pure performance.
“I think if you make the sum of the two, between performance and drivability, it can be up to a second per lap just by then. I believe that the car itself, chassis side, we’ve done a good job. Most of the delta is from the power unit.”
The R26 completed a ‘filming day’ on 16 April – whether anything was tweaked on the powertrain is unknown – with Nico Hulkenberg at the wheel in the morning, then Bortoleto in the afternoon.
Audi also announced brand icon Allan McNish as its new F1 racing director, following team principal Jonathan Wheatley’s departure ahead of an expected Aston Martin move – which Motorsport revealed last month.
Williams
Carlos Sainz, Williams
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
After Williams failed four crash tests, missed the Barcelona shakedown and ended up 28kg overweight with its car, the goal for April was clear: “Every single hour of that break we need in order to get ourselves back on the front foot by the time we come back to Miami,” team principal James Vowles said in The Vowles Verdict.
The Grove-based squad has therefore been focusing on a weight loss programme, with initial improvement expected at the Miami Grand Prix this weekend. Then, a brand-new chassis should be introduced at Monza in September, dropping the car’s weight under the limit – but crash tests will need to be successfully passed in that regard.
“The drivers will come back here to the UK, and we’ll run our simulator on basically every single day of that as much as possible,” Vowles added. “We’ll complete pitstop practice with the crew back here as many days that we can as well.”
Carlos Sainz also got to drive last year’s FW47 at Silverstone on 21 April.
Meanwhile, the team has hired Dan Milner, who worked at Mercedes for 14 years as an engineer, as its chief engineer of vehicle technology.
Aston Martin
Honda Power Unit Launch
Williams’ struggles somehow seem minor relative to Aston Martin’s, whose AMR26 – its first Adrian Newey-designed car – cruelly lacks reliability and performance. New partner Honda’s 2026-spec engine generates vibrations that are amplified by the chassis and therefore damage batteries and spark driver health concerns, though the situation improved at Suzuka.
After the Japanese Grand Prix, one of the Aston Martins stayed in Japan, along with chief strategy officer Andy Cowell, who previously led Mercedes’ engine effort. The car was further examined and tested at Honda’s Sakura factory, allowing the engine department to study the vibration problem in more representative conditions.
“After that race, we took the opportunity to keep one of the AMR26 cars on site for further static testing in Sakura for the first time, focusing our efforts on reducing the vibrations and thus increasing reliability,” Honda’s trackside general manager Shintaro Orihara said.
“We have made some progress, allowing us to implement further countermeasures in Miami and later in the season. Realistically, this progress will not have a visible impact on the power unit performance on track, so we shouldn’t be expecting big jumps forward here.”
Meanwhile, Lance Stroll’s frustration led him to take part in the Paul Ricard round of the GT World Challenge Europe.
“This year, we don’t have a very competitive car, and we now have some time without races. So, it was an idea to change things up a bit – a different mindset during the break,” the Canadian said.
When asked what his goal was for the weekend, the first word that came to Stroll’s mind was “enjoyment”, which says a lot.
Stroll’s #18 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin, which he shared with Spanish drivers Roberto Merhi and Mari Boya, eventually suffered a late retirement due to gearbox issues after being given several penalties for driving infringements.
Cadillac
Sergio Perez, Cadillac Racing, Valtteri Bottas, Cadillac Racing
Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images
Cadillac has enjoyed an encouraging F1 debut, even outperforming Aston Martin in Japan; the April break is now allowing the team to fine-tune a number of details regarding its execution.
“I think it’s actually quite beneficial for us,” Valtteri Bottas said of the unexpected five-week pause after the Chinese Grand Prix. “We have more time to sort things out – because we still have issues, you know, we still haven’t had a trouble-free week – and also more time to gain more performance. And everyone has been working flat out for months now, so actually maybe for some people to have a bit of a breather as well, this is good.”
Unlike other teams, Cadillac’s focus is not solely on the development race as the team needs to improve its pitstop performance and resolve several issues – major fuel systems problems occurred in Australia and China, and recurring energy deployment gremlins have been too much of a hindrance.
Meanwhile, Bottas made the most of the break to spend some time cycling – which is typical from the Finn, whose partner is professional cyclist Tiffany Cromwell.
Cadillac has now designed a special livery for its maiden F1 race on American soil, this weekend in Miami.
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