Why F1 should rethink closed-door policy for 2026 secret shakedown test

F1’s first test of the new regulation cycle is set to take place behind closed doors at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in January.

Three pre-season tests are planned ahead of the first season of racing under the new regulations, although just two of these will see any media output, as the first outing will take place behind closed doors.

F1’s first 2026 test to be held in private

The 11 teams racing in 2026 will have extra testing ahead of the season, due to the widespread changes that are shaking up the formula on both the power unit and chassis sides.

Two tests are planned to be held in Bahrain in February, the venue which has become de rigeur for pre-season testing in recent years, with a three-day test from 11th to 13th of February, and a second three-day test running from the 18th to 20th of February.

But, before these two tests in the Middle East, the F1 teams will decamp to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for the first pre-season running at the venue since 2022.

This test is set to take place across five days in January, reducing the length of the winter break considerably, although teams will only be permitted to drive on three of the five days across this window. The scheduled dates are from January 26th to 30th, 2026.

However, the Barcelona test is unusual in that it is set to be held entirely in private: There will be no live timing, no television or broadcast media of any description, no journalists from the print press, and no photographers.

Indeed, such is the extent of the desired privacy that even the teams will operate with the bare essentials, as social media and internal communications staff also won’t be permitted to post content from the track.

There is a clear intent behind this. With incredibly different machines rolling out on track for the first time, failures are likely – and likely to be quite common. Given that performance won’t be the intent for the teams in the opening days, most of whom will likely be focused on the basics of operations with unfamiliar machinery, a lack of media spotlight will reduce the pressure on the teams considerably.

After all, imagine the headlines if and when a front-running team has a multitude of sporadic issues, brings out multiple red flags, or even misses hours or days due to needing time to figure stuff out early doors.

There is some form for this. The last major regulation change, the switch to ground-effect cars in 2022, also saw a reduction in coverage with no official broadcast coverage, live timing, or fan access to the circuit, although media were still permitted to attend.

In 2014, when F1 switched from naturally aspirated V8s to the turbocharged V6 hybrids, the first day of testing proved exceptionally quiet, with only 91 laps completed by the entirety of the grid. While Mercedes, who proved dominant that season, racked up over 300 laps over four days, Red Bull managed just 21 laps in total as the reigning Champions had early issues to overcome.

Given the all-encompassing nature of the regulation changes for 2026, meaning every facet of the cars will be completely new for the engineers, it’s therefore not particularly surprising that there is a desire amongst the teams to try and keep their initial failures and issues quiet, buying themselves some peace before the media scrutiny really ramps up in Bahrain.

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Why F1 should take control of its messaging for the first pre-season test

In an ideal world, perhaps this peaceful idyll, last possible in a pre-social media age, could be achieved and the well-intended consideration of the teams over likely difficult days would be rewarded with the desired blackout.

But, with the first running of the F1 2026 cars not being televised, and no way for journalists and fans to keep abreast of what’s going on at the circuit, the danger for F1 and the teams is that they will have no control whatsoever over the optics of the test – the first time vastly different-looking cars will take to the track in the hands of new drivers and with new liveries.

The intent is that these cars will pound around Barcelona without anyone outside of the teams ever catching a glimpse, or without any information from what happens on the circuit ever making it public, over the course of several days. But this quest doesn’t seem likely to succeed.

F1’s popularity is such that fans and photographers will travel to the circuit and find surreptitious ways of accessing the venue, meaning spy shots and blurry images of the cars will escape onto social media.

Drone shots are a near-certainty as well, such is the ubiquitousness of the technology and the ease of access to such devices, meaning video, audio, and photos will also manage to make it into the public domain.

Incentivised will be the paparazzi-style photographers, perhaps from outside of the usual F1 sphere and thus less bothered by having media access to the sport, who will do their utmost to get the shots and the payday, using any means necessary.

Combine that with usual paddock leaks and hyperbole around some teams, which will, regardless, create headlines, likely negative, this lack of transparency could thus end up merely making the matter worse rather than better.

For example, a sneaky drone shot of a Ferrari, the team most afflicted by ceaseless rumours, capturing Lewis Hamilton grinding to a halt on track, will spread all over social media, and is only likely to spiral into a wave of baseless hypotheses and speculation.

It’s for reasons like this that F1 and the teams should reconsider the decisions to go completely radio silent and, instead, evaluate ways to control the narrative through what are likely to be a difficult few days for most teams.

In the absence of a video broadcast and the resulting hours of airtime to be filled with commentator speculation that goes along with it, one solution could be to increase official social media coverage in collaboration with the teams, allowing for the controlled release of images and footage in ways that would therefore reduce the desperation of those lining up outside the circuit with their drones, or attempting to bribe security guards into looking the other way.

Live timing is definitely not a requirement for such a test, but the teams must be aware that breakdowns can and will be the subject of rumours; acknowledging such breakdowns and offering explanations will go a long way towards reducing the noise that will invariably emerge.

After all, a modern Formula 1 car running on track captures the imagination of the public like little else. Combine that with new regulations and the promise of scintillating competition in a brand-new era for the sport, and an attempt to pretend such a test isn’t going on will only result in F1 and the teams finding themselves coming under pressure that it has little control over, should they attempt to run a multi-day test without any engagement with the outside world whatsoever.

By releasing a steady trickle of information and photos, strictly controlled by themselves, the hunger of most fans will be satiated, the media machine will be fed, and the pressure should become entirely more manageable.

Indeed, at this point, it’s understood that there are some tentative discussions being held with the teams around this very topic, with an eye to understanding how best to encourage fan engagement and media knowledge without compromising on the teams’ desire for privacy.

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