The complexity of F1’s 2026 rules overhaul is such that teams requested an extra shakedown on top of two three-day tests in Bahrain to prepare for the start of the season in Melbourne in March.
The new power units, with a much bigger reliance on a more powerful electric MGU-K system, caused such nerves that they requested the Barcelona shakedown behind closed doors, with Bahrain also understood to have paid for the privilege to host official winter testing.
Regardless, any apprehension about teams being stuck in the garage or F1 power units going up in smoke turned out to be overblown. The overall conclusion from the five-day shakedown event, of which teams were allowed to pick three for testing, was that the new regulations era has gotten off to a remarkably smooth start, unlike the last major engine overhaul in 2014.
Mercedes and Ferrari particularly stood out with their reliable and productive start, while Red Bull’s manufacturer era got off to a cautiously impressive start and Adrian Newey’s first Aston Martin design caught the eye of many observers upon its delayed arrival.
Lewis Hamilton led the timesheets ahead of George Russell, but as there was no real performance work being done on the cold Montmelo layout and teams will likely bring a more evolved specification of their cars to Bahrain and the season opener, any reference to lap times is utterly meaningless and should be treated with distrust.
Lando Norris, McLaren MCL40
McLaren – 291 laps
What they did
McLaren delayed its MCL40’s debut to Wednesday, forcing the world champion squad into a busy programme with three consecutive days of running. Its second day was hindered by a fuel system issue, which restricted Oscar Piastri to 48 laps, but both he and world champion Lando Norris enjoyed 80+ laps on Friday.
That is still some way off Mercedes’ record tally, but there are no reasons to suggest McLaren has encountered any showstoppers. The Woking team did concede on Friday night that it still had a lot of work ahead to get on top of the new power units, especially the driving and set-up requirements of a more powerful MGU-K motor. That likely applies to every team to some extent, but it was still an intriguingly frank admission.
What they said
“While some small issues cost us mileage across day one and day two of running, the final day delivered exactly what we needed with both drivers completing extensive laps without any reliability concerns,” said technical director for engineering Neil Houldey.
“The new power unit regulations have added complexity, especially around deployment and harvesting. We did what we could in the simulator, but there’s no substitute for track time, where close collaboration with Mercedes High Performance Powertrains has helped us refine solutions.
“Telemetry from running the car will sharpen simulator realism now that the drivers have experienced the real thing. We completed meaningful aero work, including flow visualization, and gathered extensive references to benchmark our next development steps.”
George Russell, Mercedes
Mercedes – 500 laps
What they did
Across Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli amassed a whopping 500 laps, which is a remarkable achievement for a new car built from a blank sheet of paper under these all-new regulations. Other than a few typical gremlins, the Mercedes W17 ran like clockwork and could swiftly move onto a first tentative race simulation on Wednesday and a few qualifying-style runs on Thursday.
Reliable doesn’t equal fast, so more patience is required; both Russell and Antonelli certainly seemed to have a spring in their step. As far as a shakedown and calibration week goes, it really couldn’t have gone any better for the Silver Arrows.
What they said
“It’s been really impressive from a reliability point of view. There’s all new systems on the car. It’s worked brilliantly,” said trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin. “Whether it was the shakedown in Silverstone or this first test, we have an idea of what objectives we want to achieve. And we’ve pretty much ticked all of those boxes for these two. In Bahrain, we’re going to move more to set-up exploration, trying to work out how you get the car in the right window.”
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Red Bull – 303 laps
What they did
Red Bull impressed both friend and foe with a very productive debut for its in-house engines developed by Red Bull Ford Powertrains, getting off to a flying start with 107 laps on day one. Isack Hadjar crashed on a rainy second day, spinning into the wall out of the final corner, which put the team on the back foot, requiring it to fly out spare parts from Milton Keynes so Verstappen could take the wheel on Friday.
But the four-time world champion brought Red Bull’s Spanish week to a close with a healthy 118 laps, meaning Red Bull leaves Barcelona with a solid haul of data. Its Racing Bulls sister team, which we will come to later, also chipped in with a similar amount of mileage to give RBPT a lot of data to pore over.
What they said
“We knew it would be a very special moment to be here for the first time with RB22 with our own PU [power unit], so on Monday there was a special atmosphere in the garage,” said team principal Laurent Mekies. “We got more than a hundred laps in on Monday with Isack and then Tuesday was a bit more difficult for us. Isack went off at the end of the day in very tricky conditions and with a lot of things still to get right on the car side. It was unfortunate, but these things happen.
“We have a lot to take away from this week and Max’s experience and detail with engineering will help us shape the preparations for Bahrain and beyond. In terms of what we were expecting from the power unit in these first three days, I can only stress how proud we are of everyone back at base who delivered us this PU. Of course, it is very early days and nothing is perfect but we have started to learn already.”
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
Ferrari – 444 laps
What they did
Ferrari may not have grabbed as many headlines with its productivity as Mercedes, partly because it started and finished a day later than the Silver Arrows, but the Scuderia quietly got off to a very positive start. Unlike most of its rivals, Ferrari opted to run on a rainy Tuesday but when Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton ran in dry conditions on Thursday and Friday both appeared to be buoyed by a more straightforward start to the season compared to 12 months ago.
Unofficially, Hamilton set the fastest time of the test on Friday afternoon, a 1m16.348s, but it cannot be stressed enough that Barcelona times are devoid of meaning. But Ferrari engines almost ran for a total of 1,000 laps, which isn’t a world away from Mercedes’ tally of 1,137.
What they said
“It’s been a long week but overall a productive one,” said team boss Fred Vasseur. “We experienced different conditions, from wet to dry, and managed to complete a significant amount of running each day, which is crucial at this stage to collect data and check reliability. We didn’t encounter any major issues, which is an important outcome.
“It’s still very early days and there is a lot to analyse and improve, but now we’ll return to Maranello to work through what we’ve learned and prepare for the Bahrain test, which will be more representative.
Carlos Sainz, Williams
Williams – 0 laps
What they did
Williams’ round-up of its Barcelona shakedown can be very short. It didn’t turn up. In pushing the boat out rushing all its parts through production, the Williams team pushed itself too hard and found itself adrift. Williams team boss James Vowles said the team could have made the shakedown week if its life depended on it, but that would have carried a spare parts risk for the early part of the season, a risk Vowles was not comfortable taken given the traumatising start to the 2024 season, when it also fell behind and ended up with one car on the grid in Melbourne.
Instead, Williams ramped up its virtual track testing programme and simulator work for Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon, but not making it to Barcelona will still put it behind teams who have already worked out a lot of gremlins on their 2026 machinery by doing hundreds of laps. One saving grace is that Williams is using both a Mercedes power unit and gearbox this year, which Mercedes and its other customer teams have clearly been able to shake down to good effect.
It’s an early setback for Williams, but the lack of Barcelona running doesn’t say anything about the actual quality and performance of its FW48 car, and it still has six full days of testing in Bahrain to sort itself out.
What they said
“It’s incredibly painful,” said Vowles. “We have to acknowledge that we were trying to push more throughput through the system than we were able to achieve. We could have made Barcelona testing, but in doing so, I would have to turn upside down the impact on spares components and updates across Bahrain, Melbourne and beyond. I stand by our decision that the right thing to do is to make sure we’re turning up at Bahrain correctly prepared. We’ve still got six days of testing Bahrain in representative conditions.”
Arvid Lindblad, Racing Bulls
Racing Bulls – 319 laps
What they did
Alongside Mercedes, Racing Bulls was the other outfit that managed to get all of its running in by Thursday evening, just sitting out the rain-affected Tuesday. It was a rather efficient programme for the Anglo-Italian squad, and like its bigger brother Red Bull, it ran an impressive number of laps given it was the first outing for the all-new power unit developed by Red Bull Ford Powertrains.
Arvid Lindblad, F1’s only rookie in 2026, amassed a total of 167 laps as the British youngster acclimatises to life in F1, with a similar number of laps for Liam Lawson despite both drivers suffering stoppages that caused one red flag each.
What they said
“It’s been really, really successful,” said chief technical officer Tim Goss. “You come to the first test like this and your aims are to get out there and just build mileage and that’s exactly what we’ve achieved. You know, it’s such a new car, everything’s different. We’ve never had this kind of change in Formula 1 before and to get out there and just run successfully, both ourselves and the sister team as well, has been really impressive. It’s been a really impressive job by Red Bull Ford Powertrains. To come as a complete newcomer to Formula 1 and, on your very first day, to put nearly 200 laps under your belt, it’s easy to take this level of reliability for granted, but it can’t be underestimated what they’ve achieved.”
Lance Stroll, Aston Martin
Aston Martin – 65 laps
What they did
Not unlike Williams, Aston Martin had to pull out all the stops to even make it to Barcelona but it did get there eventually, chartering an ancient propeller cargo plane to fly its car over on Wednesday, which soon became one of the most tracked flights on the popular aviation buff website Flightradar24, such is the hype around Adrian Newey’s first Aston Martin design for two-time world champion Fernando Alonso.
Aston worked throughout Thursday to get the AMR26 ready to go and just managed to make it out of the pitlane, drawing oohs and ahhs for a design that looked radically different in several areas compared to its rivals. Lance Stroll had to park the car after just five laps before the end of the day, while Alonso then had a more productive day on Friday by setting 61 laps.
Nevertheless, there is only so much Aston has been able to learn in Barcelona, and as the only Honda team it is slightly behind the curve exploring its brand-new engine and its power modes. The jury is still out on whether “different” means fast, but the first fruit of Newey’s labour has certainly given rival designers a lot to talk about.
What they said
“It was very special,” said Alonso. “Obviously, it’s the first car made by Adrian and together with Honda and Aramco and all these new rules. The last two weeks have been very intense at the factory trying to have the car ready and we just made it to Barcelona in the last two days so it was a tremendous effort from everyone. For us [Friday] was really the very first day, so I think we had a positive one doing 60-plus laps and the car is responding well.”
Esteban Ocon, Haas F1 Team
Haas – 391 laps
What they did
Haas’s shiny new VF-26 enjoyed a productive start to life on Monday but then disappeared into the garage for large spells of Wednesday due to one minor and one more serious reliability issue on the car side of things. The issue was such that Haas required new parts to be flown in and fitted to the car overnight so it could run on Friday, which it accomplished with a solid day of running, with Oliver Bearman completing over 100 laps on Friday morning alone.
Esteban Ocon continued a productive Friday in the afternoon, an impressive reaction from a team that has experienced a couple of such occasions in recent seasons, and 391 laps completed represents a job well done.
What they said
“We had our reliability issues on Wednesday, but everyone on the team did a great job to get things turned around and get us back out on Friday,” said team boss Ayao Komatsu. “We received replacement parts quite late yesterday but then the preparation of the car overnight was brilliant – we were ready to go out at 09:00 today. We stuck to our program and really learned a lot. Today it’s not just been about the quantity of laps, it’s been about the quality of laps. We’ve got a huge amount of data to look at and put improvements in place for Bahrain.”
Gabriel Bortoleto, Audi
Audi – 243 laps
What they did
Unlike Red Bull Ford Powertrains, F1’s other new power unit manufacturer did not have the smoothest runout in Barcelona out of the box. Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg were both restricted to fewer than 100 laps over the first two test days and caused several red flags with the R26. Given the confidential nature of the test it is not fully known what the biggest pain points for Audi were, but the team alluded to at least several gremlins being located on the power unit side.
Audi is another team without customers that can only rely on itself to gain mileage, so any technical issues with the car also hinder its ability to learn more about its first-ever F1 powerplant. That’s why it was so important for Bortoleto and Hulkenberg to enjoy a much more productive final day, combining for 148 laps to bring Audi’s tally to a respectable 243 laps, meaning the German manufacturer will head to Bahrain with a much more positive feeling.
What they said
“We came here knowing it wouldn’t be a flawless week – there were still many firsts for us, with a brand-new car and power unit package, and extensive collaboration between Neuburg and Hinwil,” said technical director James Key.
“As expected, we faced some early challenges, which is completely normal at this stage. They were all well understood and fixable. We made clear and consistent progress as the week went on, and by the second half of the test, we were able to run more productively and begin extracting meaningful insights.
“This test was never about performance – it was about validating the fundamentals and ensuring our core systems are functioning reliably. In that regard, we’ve made good progress and now have a solid foundation to build on.”
Franco Colapinto, Alpine
Alpine – 349 laps
What they did
Alpine was another outfit with a lot on its plate after ditching its Renault engines and welcoming a new power unit and gearbox supplier in the form of Mercedes. But fresh from its launch on an MSC cruiseliner on Friday, Alpine arrived at the Catalan capital with a spring in its step and quiet confidence its choice to sacrifice last season for 2026 was going to pay off.
That all remains to be seen, but Alpine appears to be in an infinitely better place than it was 12 months ago, and that isn’t all down to the power unit. Taking over from Wednesday runner Franco Colapinto, marathon man Pierre Gasly completed a massive 164 laps on Friday, nearly half of the team’s entire mileage, underlining Alpine’s smooth start.
What they said
“Nothing has come as a surprise but there’s nothing like doing it for real,” said managing director Steve Nielsen. “On the first day on Monday, we didn’t quite do as many laps or get the mileage we wanted, which was to be expected with a completely new car. But we steadily ramped up across the week and covered 764km on the final day, which gives us a lot to look through ahead of Bahrain. We’re pretty much on target in terms of where we wanted to be with the number of laps covered.”
Sergio Perez, Cadillac F1 Team
Cadillac – 164 laps
What they did
As F1’s first startup team in a decade, Cadillac was always going to have a mountain to climb to even make it to Barcelona in the first place. And it did, making it out of the pits on Monday morning before Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez added more mileage to the car on Thursday and Friday.
It certainly wasn’t a trouble-free experience, as one would expect, but in the grand scheme of things Cadillac can look back on a successful week, benefitting from a good start for its Ferrari power plants too. No one in the 500-strong start-up is under any illusions of the type of challenges that still await, and the car’s initial performance remains a big question mark. But Cadillac has all the hallmarks of a bona fide, fully-fledged F1 operation, and that’s already encouraging.
What they said
“I’m really happy with the way things have gone,” said team principal Graeme Lowdon. “We’ve steadily worked through all the usual niggles that you find with a brand-new car, but also you have to remember it’s only the fourth day of this team running their Formula 1 car. But every day we’re getting more streamlined, the procedures are working well, people are working extremely well together. There is still a lot of work to do, but that’s the same for all teams. We’ll be heading to Bahrain with a really positive feeling.”
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