Lewis Hamilton ends Barcelona Shakedown fastest as Formula 1's new era opens

Hamilton tops the final day as the shakedown concludes

Lewis Hamilton closed Formula 1's first pre-season test of the 2026 era on top of the timesheets, with a late-session lap of 1:16.348 for Ferrari on Friday edging the 1:16.445 George Russell had set for Mercedes on Thursday. Formula1.com's full shakedown report recorded McLaren's reigning world champion Lando Norris second fastest on 1:16.594, just ahead of Charles Leclerc, as teams concluded a tightly regulated test that offered early clues but no firm answers about the competitive order for 2026. ³

Formula1.com's Day 5 debrief reported a dry and sunny start in Barcelona on the Friday, with Valtteri Bottas and Ollie Bearman the first to emerge for Cadillac and Haas, soon joined by Pierre Gasly, Verstappen, Leclerc, Piastri, Bortoleto and Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso, who was making his first appearance of the week. Several teams swapped drivers ahead of the afternoon, with Norris, Hamilton, Ocon and Hulkenberg taking over, and Hamilton, Ocon, Gasly, Hulkenberg, Verstappen and Norris all lapping towards the close of the day. ¹

McLaren's own report listed slightly different Day 5 timings for its cars, crediting Piastri with a best lap of 1:17.446 for fourth on Friday rather than the 1:17.586 shown in the unofficial compilation of the session, a reminder that shakedown times are team-reported and unofficial. Whatever the precise gaps, the team confirmed both drivers ran extensively on the final day, with Norris completing 86 laps and Piastri 80 without reliability concerns. ²³

All times from the shakedown are unofficial and were set in cold January conditions with teams running widely varying programmes, so they carry no competitive ranking. Mercedes driver George Russell made the point directly in the team's own debrief, saying the car is working well but that there is no indication yet of relative pace, which will have to wait until Bahrain. ⁵

A reset regulation era meets the track

Formula1.com's analysis of the event noted that this was the most dramatic rules overhaul since 2014, with new chassis regulations including active aero and power units featuring a near 50-50 split between electric and fuel power. Against that backdrop, reliability was described as very impressive: in 2014, the last time regulations changed this dramatically, all teams combined completed just 93 laps on the first day of the first test, whereas at this year's opening shakedown one team alone exceeded that figure and the combined Day 1 tally was around five times larger. ⁴

Ten of the eleven teams took part, each permitted up to three of the five available days, with Williams the sole absentee. Aston Martin was a partial exception even among the runners, appearing only on the final two days, while Mercedes and Racing Bulls completed their three allocated days by Thursday, having run on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. ¹⁴

Mercedes sets the mileage benchmark; McLaren's MCL40 debut

Mercedes emerged from the week with the strongest reliability story. The team was first on track on Monday with Kimi Antonelli before Russell took over in the afternoon, ran approximately 500 laps across its three days, the most of any team according to the full shakedown report, and set the fastest time of the week with Russell's Thursday benchmark before Hamilton edged it on Friday. Trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin said Barcelona had been focused on proving out the W17, with set-up exploration to follow in Bahrain. ³⁵

McLaren rolled out its MCL40 for the first time on Day 3, with Norris giving the car its debut mileage and carrying the No. 1 for the first time as reigning world champion. In its official team report McLaren confirmed 291 laps and 1,355.187 km across the three days, including 166 laps on the Friday, with technical director Neil Houldey reporting that small issues cost mileage on the first two days of running before a clean final day, and that the team validated the new straight and cornering mode in collaboration with Mercedes-Benz High Performance Powertrains. ²³⁵

Aston Martin arrives late with Honda's new power unit

Aston Martin's AMR26 did not appear until late on Day 4. Honda's own trackside report from the shakedown recorded that Lance Stroll completed four laps on January 29 in an all-black livery before slightly abnormal data prompted a precautionary stop on track, ending the day's running, and that Fernando Alonso began running at approximately 9:30 a.m. on January 30, completing 61 laps focused on mileage accumulation and reliability checks. Honda noted the RA626H marked the first on-track running of its new-regulation power unit with the team. ⁶³

Formula1.com's analysis highlighted the scale of Aston Martin's changeover, with the squad switching from Mercedes power to a works Honda supply, building its own gearbox and suspension for the first time, all under the first Adrian Newey-designed Aston Martin, while the car was flown to Barcelona rather than travelling by road. Chief trackside officer Mike Krack described getting the car to the track as requiring a tremendous effort and called the test productive in building the working relationship with Honda. ⁴⁶

Williams stays away and attention turns to Bahrain

Williams was the only team absent from the shakedown after production delays. Team principal James Vowles described missing the test as incredibly painful, explaining that delays in manufacturing parts for a far more complex car than anything previously produced at Grove forced the team to abandon planned running despite passing the required crash tests, with protecting spare parts supply and early-season updates prioritised over limited shakedown mileage. Vowles also dismissed speculation that the FW48 will begin the season significantly overweight, saying accurate weight figures cannot be established before the car runs without extensive sensor packages. ³

Formula1.com reported that Williams instead conducted a Virtual Track Test while preparing for Bahrain, where official pre-season testing begins on February 11, and that Vowles is hopeful the delay will not leave the team on the back foot. The shakedown itself was held behind closed doors, with the two Bahrain tests, running February 11-13 and February 18-20, open to spectators, including live coverage of the final hour of each day of the first test. ⁴¹

The calendar of activity between now and Bahrain includes several team launches: Formula1.com's Day 5 debrief listed Mercedes and Williams launch events on February 2 and 3, Cadillac's livery unveiling on February 8, and McLaren and Aston Martin launches on February 9. Red Bull, meanwhile, left Barcelona encouraged by the reliable first running of its own power unit produced in partnership with Ford, with Verstappen describing the new engine as still a work in progress but a good start. ¹⁴⁵