On the penultimate day of F1’s first pre-season test event of 2026, McLaren’s run was halted due to a technical issue while rivals Mercedes and Ferrari achieved strong results in Barcelona.
After reigning world champion Lando Norris made his first appearance of the week by debuting the MCL40 on Wednesday, it was Oscar Piastri’s turn to drive the constructors’ champion on Thursday, but the Australian’s afternoon was interrupted by a fuel system issue.
That means McLaren completed just 48 laps, more than 100 laps less than Mercedes and Ferrari completed on Aston Martin’s belated first appearance at a behind-closed-doors event. This gave teams the first opportunity to test new cars ahead of 2026, following the introduction of new power units and chassis regulations.
“Unfortunately, we had some issues today. We had an issue with the fuel system, which cut the day a little bit short, but I know the team is working hard to resolve the issues and get back to doing as many laps as possible tomorrow,” Piastri said.
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Oscar Piastri reveals the problems his McLaren faced on day four of the Barcelona shakedown, which led to him being locked in the garage for much of the afternoon.
After a very productive effort on Monday and Wednesday, Mercedes took advantage of the last of the three days allowed to run in the five-day event to rack up yet another impressive number of laps at the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit.
Mercedes, who were enthusiastically encouraged by many paddock officials to start the sport’s new rule era at the front of the grid, continued their very smooth start to pre-season with Kimi Antonelli and then George Russell completing a total of 167 laps.
Antonelli had set the fastest time of the event in the morning, but Russell improved on that in the afternoon, clocking a time of 1:16.445, more than half a second ahead of his teammate and almost two seconds ahead of any other car.
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George Russell and Kimi Antonelli review Mercedes’ impressive performance at the Barcelona Shakedown.
Although it is still too early to read too much into the times, the Silver Arrows’ performance was very impressive, especially given that Mercedes are further along in their program than their traditional rivals at the front of the grid.
Russell said: “The car is working well so far, but the question is not how well it works, it’s how fast it gets around the track. There’s no sign of that at the moment.”
“We’re in a pretty good position, but I’m sure things will change a lot between now and the next Bahrain test. I’m sure people will bring upgrades to the car, so it’s still early days.”
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Lewis Hamilton said the Barcelona shakedown was “better than anything we’ve had in the past” for Ferrari and expressed hope that “it continues”.
After debuting in largely wet conditions on Tuesday, Ferrari had a strong day in the afternoon, completing 174 laps with Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.
Hamilton said after morning practice that Ferrari had performed “better” than in last year’s pre-season testing, and that the 85 laps it managed on Thursday was an “amazing” feat. Leclerc was third on the timesheets behind the Mercedes duo.
The three title-chasing teams were joined on the track by Cadillac and Racing Bulls, with the latter becoming the only team other than Mercedes to use up their allotted track time ahead of Friday’s final day of the event.
Aston Martin finally gets back on track
Aston Martin, which had said on Monday that it was aiming to miss the first three days and return to the track on Thursday, almost achieved its goal when the AMR26 emerged from the garage with Lance Stroll in the cockpit with an hour to go.
Stroll stopped on track in the closing stages, bringing out the only red flag of the day, but overcoming a few gremlins overnight could be crucial if they are to get a full day of running on Friday when Fernando Alonso gets his chance to drive the car for the first time.
There is a great deal of intrigue surrounding the team’s first car, which was designed with great influence from team principal Adrian Newey. Newey’s legendary design skills helped Red Bull dominate at the beginning of the pre-rule era.
The car was running in an all-black camouflage livery rather than the team’s usual green, but onlookers immediately noticed the car’s design, which looked very different from most other car designs seen throughout the week.
“Everyone did a good job today getting the car ready,” said Stroll. “It was a long day for all the mechanics and the whole team pushing as hard as they could to get the car ready. We did a few laps at the end of the day and it felt good.”
Williams withdrew from the event due to unprepared cars, leaving seven teams to complete the two-day run and complete their assignments on Friday, while Aston Martin hopes to remain on track for the full day.
Max Verstappen is among the players expected to drive on Friday, having been sidelined for the past two days by Red Bull after Izak Hajar crashed his RB22 in wet conditions on Tuesday.
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