F1 2026 testing: Everything we learned from Day 1 in Barcelona

Red Bull newcomer Isack Hadjar emerged as the early benchmark as Formula 1’s 2026 pre-season testing began in Barcelona.

Having already led the morning session, Hadjar went on to post the quickest lap of the day with a 1:18.159, finishing 0.537 seconds clear of Mercedes’ George Russell. Alpine’s Franco Colapinto completed the top three on a busy opening day of running.

Formula 1 is using this week as a ‘Shakedown Week’ at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, running from Monday through Friday, to allow teams their first proper opportunity to evaluate the all-new F1 2026 cars.

Held behind closed doors, the Barcelona outing was the first official on-track action of the new 2026 F1 season, ahead of two further pre-season tests scheduled to take place in Bahrain next month.

Several teams were absent from the opening day. Reigning constructors’ champions McLaren and Ferrari had already confirmed they would not run on Monday, while Aston Martin is not expected to appear for at least the first three days of the test.

Williams, meanwhile, announced last week that they will not participate in any of the five days of running in Barcelona.

As a result, just seven of the 11 teams took to the circuit on Day 1, with Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes, Colapinto’s Alpine and Gabriel Bortoleto’s Audi first to venture out of the pit lane.

Antonelli initially set the pace during the early part of the morning session, registering an unofficial best of 1:20.700. However, it was Hadjar — making his testing debut for Red Bull — who finished the morning on top, setting a best lap of 1:18.835 in the RB22. As ever at this stage, lap time gaps were considered largely unrepresentative.

The morning session was disrupted by three red flags after stoppages for Bortoleto, Colapinto and Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson. Audi later confirmed that Bortoleto’s interruption was caused by a “technical issue” on his Audi R26.

Running slowed noticeably after lunch, with the afternoon session not getting underway for more than 30 minutes.

Mercedes rotated drivers over the lunch break, with George Russell taking over the W17 from Antonelli.

Cadillac also made a change, as Sergio Perez — celebrating his 36th birthday on Monday — replaced Valtteri Bottas.

Once running resumed, Haas driver Esteban Ocon began to rack up mileage, improving to a reported 1:23.014 — some 1.5 seconds quicker than his best lap from the morning. Ocon is believed to have logged more laps than any other driver on Day 1, with reports suggesting he completed 154 tours of the circuit.

Perez’s afternoon, by contrast, was limited. The Mexican is understood to have focused largely on installation laps, with Cadillac battling electrical issues throughout the day.

In the final hour, Hadjar and Russell exchanged fastest laps, but it was the Red Bull driver who ultimately retained P1 at the end of the opening day of the 2026 pre-season.

F1 2026 Pre-Season testing: Unofficial lap times from Day 1 in Barcelona