F1 Testing: New 2026 guidelines period begins at Barcelona shakedown with Crimson Bull and Mercedes making optimistic begins

Method 1’s new guidelines period formally started in Barcelona on Monday with seven of the grid’s 11 groups hitting the monitor on the opening day of 2026’s closed shakedown week in Spain.

Behind closed doorways on the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya with no media current, the groups who selected to run on day one have been Mercedes, Crimson Bull, Racing Bulls, Haas, Alpine, rebranded Audi and the all-new Cadillac outfit.

Groups are allowed to run on three days of the five-day take a look at wherein the main target is reliability working over efficiency given the all-new nature of 2026’s vehicles and engines.

McLaren and Ferrari had already stated they’d not be working on Monday, whereas Williams usually are not attending the take a look at in any respect resulting from delays with their 2026 automobile.

Aston Martin, in the meantime, confirmed on Monday that they meant to run on Thursday and Friday – the take a look at’s remaining two days – solely because the world waits for the primary have a look at Adrian Newey’s debut design for the group.

Though there are not any dwell timings throughout the take a look at, with ‘official’ pre-season testing working not beneath approach till the primary of two exams in Bahrain from February 11, it’s understood that Isack Hadjar set Monday’s tempo within the new Crimson Bull RB22 – which is working the group’s personal Ford-backed energy unit for the primary time.

The Frenchman had set the morning tempo and, though he was usurped by Mercedes’ George Russell halfway by way of the afternoon, he ended up going quicker than the Briton with a day-best 1:18.159.

“It was pretty productive, surprisingly,” stated Hadjar, who has stepped up from Racing Bulls to be Max Verstappen’s team-mate this yr.

“We managed to do a lot more laps than we expected.

“All the pieces went fairly easy. We had like solely minor points, so it is fairly spectacular contemplating it is our first day with our personal engine. It was positively easy.”

Russell was second fastest, 0.5s back, as he put 95 laps on the new Mercedes W17 during his afternoon in a car many have long tipped to feature prominently at the head of the grid in the new season.

“We’re happy with our day, however I’ve additionally been impressed by a number of different groups too,” said Russell.

“The Crimson Bull energy unit has accomplished loads of laps which, provided that it is their first engine they’ve constructed, means they’ve clearly performed a very good job.”

Crew-mate Kimi Antonelli drove the W17 throughout the morning and had been the primary driver on an initially-damp monitor on the 9am local-time inexperienced gentle. The Italian accomplished 56 laps, that means Mercedes racked up 151 in complete.

“It’s a massive learning,” stated Antonelli in regards to the nature of F1’s new-look vehicles.

“We’ve been trying to tune the power unit and the car, and obviously this afternoon the car has improved a lot, and it’s a constant learning.

“Crucial is making an attempt to get the working, as many laps as attainable, as a way to tune the ability unit and automobile in the easiest way attainable.”

On Mercedes’ 2026 power unit, which many have tipped to prove the early class of the field, Antonelli added: “The group did a very good job and driveability, which was an enormous query mark, appears to be good to date.

“Obviously, it’s early days, and that’s why with the running we will discover a lot more about the car and the PU and we’ll be able to see where it’s lacking or where it’s actually good, but, so far, the package is feeling good.”

Alpine have changed Aston Martin as a Mercedes engine buyer and so they took third on the opening day’s timesheet with Franco Colapinto. The Argentine accomplished 60 laps throughout his full day within the A526, bringing out certainly one of three pink flags within the morning due to what’s believed to have been a sensor challenge on the automobile.

Haas, giving the complete testing debut to Ferrari’s new energy unit, accomplished probably the most laps of any group with Esteban Ocon racking up 154 throughout his full day within the new VF-26 – greater than the equal of two Barcelona F1 race distances.

Cadillac be a part of the F1 fray as new-look Audi hit early stumbling block

The opening day supplied a milestone for the Cadillac group – the grid’s new eleventh entrant – who have been on monitor alongside the ten current F1 outfits for the primary time.

Valtteri Bottas marked his return to the game after a yr’s absence by making his debut within the morning earlier than team-mate Sergio Perez – who gave the challenger its debut throughout a Silverstone shakedown earlier this month – took over after lunch because the Mexican gears up for his personal F1 comeback.

“It’s great to be back!” stated Bottas. “Also with this brand-new team in the sport, it’s a really unique situation.

“Actually loved getting again on monitor. This was the primary time I drove this automobile so it was simply good to be on the market.

“Obviously performance-wise I wouldn’t say much yet but the main thing is we got some running done and, at the end, we got a little bit of a longer run in too.

“So these are the primary steps of de-bugging and getting every thing to work higher.”

Whereas not a totally new group, Audi have utterly rebranded the Sauber outfit in their very own title over the winter and so Monday marked the complete debut for the German producer’s first F1 automobile and engine on monitor.

However there have been some early teething issues for the titanium and pink R26 with Gabriel Bortoleto restricted to twenty-eight laps.

Audi group principal Jonathan Wheatley stated: “We had a technical issue with the car, we spotted it, decided to switch the car off on track.

“We have loads of testing this yr and we needed to actually perceive the issues, so we have been fastidiously analysing that.

“We’re just getting the car prepped and ready, and we’ll see what the weather conditions are for tomorrow to see whether it’s a day that we’ll run.”

Mild rain is forecast throughout the subsequent three days on the circuit, with groups now set to look at their climate radars carefully earlier than deciding when to run subsequent.

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