Liam Lawson didn’t need a telemetry trace to sniff what was going on in Bahrain. Asked about Toto Wolff’s suggestion that Red Bull Powertrains has turned up in 2026 with a power unit “a second a lap” clear of the field, the Racing Bulls driver laughed, pulled a face, and basically treated it like what it is at this stage: winter-test theatre.
“One second faster than everybody? Who said that?” Lawson shot back, before the punchline landed. “Oh my God.”
That’s the immediate human reaction, but it also doubles as a fairly accurate summary of where the paddock sits right now. The sport’s in a fresh regulations cycle — new cars, new engines, new energy-management tricks — and Bahrain testing has done what Bahrain testing always does: provide just enough evidence for everyone to believe whatever suits them.
Wolff, speaking to media in Sakhir, didn’t exactly sound like a man playing it down. He framed Red Bull as the early benchmark, not just on the complete package but specifically on how it’s using the electrical side of the new hybrid rules.
“Well, I was hoping that they were worse than they are,” Wolff admitted. “They’ve done a very good job. The car, the power unit are the benchmark at the moment, I would say.
“Look at their energy deployment today. They are able to deploy far more energy on the straights than everybody else… we are speaking a second a lap over consecutive laps.”
It’s the “over consecutive laps” part that matters, because it’s where the 2026 game is going to be won and lost. Peak numbers are one thing; how long you can sustain them without falling off a cliff — while keeping the car balanced, the tyres under you, and the start procedure from turning into a coin flip — is something else entirely.
Lawson, to his credit, didn’t try to pretend Racing Bulls has the full picture. In fact, he leaned into the uncertainty. The RBPT unit, he said, is behaving properly and that in itself is a non-trivial victory in year one of a new formula and Red Bull’s first proper in-house engine effort. But the stopwatch in testing is a liar unless you know what everyone’s carrying and what modes they’re running.
“At the moment, honestly the power unit’s working very, very well. Which is good,” Lawson said. “But in terms of performance numbers, it is so hard to tell, because we have no idea what anybody else is doing.
“So yeah, I think on the performance side, we definitely think it’s strong. I wouldn’t say it’s one second faster than everybody. But we’ll find out pretty soon.”
There’s a second layer to this, too: even if Wolff’s read on straight-line deployment is correct, it doesn’t automatically translate into a season-long hammer blow. The new cars are demanding, and Lawson’s description of the VCARB03’s manners will sound familiar to anyone who’s been watching the onboards this week — particularly through the braking zones and on traction.
“Yeah, it’s pretty tough to drive,” he said. “Especially here we have a lot of tyre deg so there’s a lot more sliding going on this year, and it is quite tricky to drive.”
That’s not just driver grumbling. It’s a reminder that the early-2026 landscape may punish any concept that leans too hard on one advantage. If you’re quick in a straight line because you can spend energy aggressively, but the car arrives at the corner nervous and then slides its way out of it, you can end up spending that battery just to cover for weaknesses elsewhere — and the tyres will send you the bill later.
Lawson pointed to the same root cause many drivers have circled since these regulations were unveiled: downforce has dropped, and the cars are asking more of the driver, more often.
“The loss of downforce is probably the main one,” he said. “Yes, you’re a lot busier, but that stuff, again, as we spend more time driving, it will start to come naturally. Right now, it’s mainly just the downforce that’s making it harder to drive.
“I think naturally when you’re sliding in the corner as well you’re going to have… more tyre deg as well.”
In other words, whatever advantage exists on paper — whether it’s Red Bull’s energy deployment or Mercedes’ own optimised ideas — still has to survive the messy reality of a race stint. Bahrain’s abrasive surface and high degradation only magnify it, but the theme won’t be confined to Sakhir. If the cars are edgy, the drivers will hustle them; if the drivers hustle them, the tyres will suffer; and once the tyres go, the lap time evaporates no matter what your power unit can do at the end of the straight.
And then there are the starts. Lawson flagged another very 2026 problem: getting off the line cleanly isn’t as straightforward as it used to be. Again, that’s less a complaint than an early warning about how this season might look in the opening rounds — more variability, more compromised getaways, more opportunities created by the new systems not yet being second nature.
“It’s more difficult, definitely, to get off the line than last year,” he said. “But again, it’s something that I’m sure, as we progress through the season, we will be figuring out things to help that.”
It’s also a neat reality check for anyone ready to crown a pre-season champion based on a couple of long-run sequences and some paddock whispers. This is a brand-new car compared to what teams had refined for years at the end of the previous cycle, and even the best packages will be rough around the edges.
“Comparing to a five-year-developed car versus a brand new car is always going to be things that are new and different,” Lawson added. “So yeah, I’m sure we’ll learn and get better.”
So where does that leave Wolff’s “second a lap” line? Possibly as an exaggeration, possibly as a pointed message aimed across the pitlane, and possibly as a glimpse of something real that won’t be fully understood until everyone runs the same fuel and the same modes in qualifying.
Lawson’s view — amused, sceptical, but not dismissive — is probably the sensible one. The RBPT unit might be strong. It might even be the reference. But in this rules reset, raw headline numbers aren’t the whole story. The first few races will be about who can turn potential into repeatable lap time, manage tyres with less aero under them, and master the new procedures while the rest of the grid is still learning what the car wants.
Or, as Lawson put it: we’ll find out pretty soon.
