Speaking to F1TV on the final day of the first 2026 F1 Bahrain test, Racing Bulls Team Principal Alan Permane reflected on a strong week of running, highlighting the team’s focus on reliability and learning.
Despite a slow start on the first day, when an early power unit issue limited the team to just half a session, Permane said that the week quickly picked up pace. During testing, the team completed 326 laps across both Liam Lawson’s and Arvid Lindblad’s runs.
“So this week we’ve had a very good week,” said Permane. “It didn’t start off so well. We had an issue on the first day, so we only ran half a day. Since then, it’s gone swimmingly, and today [Day 3], in fact, has been our best day, I would say. We’ve hit everything we wanted to do, and we’re running so we’re learning, and that’s the key. Without reliability, you can’t have performance, so, yeah, it’s been great today.”
Focus on reliability
When asked about whether Racing Bulls is on track with their goals for the first 2026 Bahrain test week despite the early problem, Permane shared: “I think we’re happy. We’re learning every time the car goes out.”
The extended 2026 F1 Bahrain pre-season tests carry greater importance this year due to the 2026 regulation changes. Notably, teams use the time to test the new chassis rules, adapt to the narrow 18-inch Pirelli tyres, and test the Active Aero feature.
With this, Racing Bulls has opted to test the cars’ reliability during the first week of testing, and focus on performance during the second week, from February 18th to 20th.
Permane continued: “There’s so much to do with these new cars so, of course, we’ve got a new power unit, we’ve got all that side of things to learn but also we’ve got new tyres so we’re learning how to operate them and what settings they like. So what we decided to do this week, we’re running the car, we’ve got plenty of fuel in it, we haven’t done anything with low fuel and we’ve just said, look, we’ll do some changes but let’s do 15 laps a time and just put the mileage on, see what we can break and hopefully at the end of this week we’ve got a nice, you know, we’re feeling a bit more confident on reliability, next week we can start focussing a little bit more on performance.”
Permane on the impressive RBPT-Ford power unit
In addition to the main regulatory changes, Red Bull Racing and Racing Bulls have adopted their own power unit after parting ways with Honda. For 2026 and beyond, Red Bull has collaborated with Ford to create the RBPT-Ford power unit.
For now, the new power unit has impressed, with the car running successfully at the Barcelona Shakedown and already being the talk of the paddock at the Bahrain tests.
Speaking about the engine and how it’s been performing, Permane shared, “It’s been mightily impressive, honestly, really, really impressive, and to be able to hit the track and just run.”
“I mean, of course, there have been little issues here and there, not really issues, learnings and changing settings and finding unexpected things and that sort of thing but to just be out, I mean, I think we’ve got a couple of hours to run yet today, we’re up to 120 laps already today, so we’re going to hit 150 or so laps today which is really, you know, that’s about as good as it gets testing, so it’s really good.”
Drivers adapt to testing demands
Finally, when asked about how his drivers have coped with the first 2026 Bahrain testing, particularly with Lindblad building his mileage and Lawson taking on a more experienced role, Permane praised both for their consistency and feedback:
“Yeah, I mean, I wouldn’t say leadership role but he’s [Lawson] there to, in case, you know, he needs to be let on but Arvid’s holding his own, honestly, they’re both doing a great job. Really, I would say this is probably not the most exciting week for them, they want to, you know what racing drivers are like, they want to go fast, so we are pushing the car to the limits but we’re not running it on anything like anywhere near like qualifying levels of fuel, so it’s long runs, it’s changes, it’s then going back, back to back to back to really make sure we understand.”
Both Racing Bulls drivers were scheduled to run three sessions in their programme, though Lindblad’s Day 1 afternoon session was interrupted by a power unit issue. During Day 3’s final session, Lawson completed a strong 1:36.808 lap, claiming the sixth-fastest time of the first Bahrain test.
“One of the things, one of the nice things about testing here, Pirelli give us a lot of tyres. So we can spend time, you know, run a setting, run another setting, then go back to the original setting, and just to confirm things, because obviously here the track changes quite a lot through the day. It gets hotter, and then as we come into the evening and it gets cooler and so the track loses grip, picks up grip. So we take our time, and that’s not the most exciting thing for drivers, but we need them in there for that consistency and their feedback.”
