F1 Barcelona pre-season testing live commentary and updates - day 4
F1 2026 starts here! Follow along for updates as they unfold from Barcelona
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And there's a video, how exciting!
Here are a few more shots of the AMR26 in Barcelona:
On his first taste of the 2026 machinery, the Australian added: "These cars are completely different to what we’ve had the last few years. That’s part of what this test is about.
"We’ve already identified a few things that we can try to improve on the car to make it feel a bit nicer."
So, we'll file him away with the legion of drivers who are yet to make their mind up about the new cars.
McLaren's Oscar Piastri has spoken about his day in the MCL40, which he says was cut short by a fuel system issue.
In a statement shared by the team, he explained: "There’s a lot of challenges this year up and down the grid, so it was good to get stuck in. We had a fuel system issue, which cut our day short, but the team’s working hard to get that fixed and back out tomorrow."
Clearly the AMR26 has caught the attention of our eagle-eyed readers – with the nose, sidepods and engine cover all demanding a little more attention.
It’s not all quite as tightly-packed as the Red Bull, but there are definitely some interesting treatments to unpack there.
Aston Martin AMR26
And here are the (very unofficial) timings for the day – which of course, still mean nothing:
1. George Russell: 1m16.445s
2. Andrea Kimi Antonelli: 1m17.081s
3. Charles Leclerc: 1m18.223s
4. Oscar Piastri: 1m18.419s
5. Arvid Lindblad: 1m18.451s
6. Lewis Hamilton: 1m18.654s
7. Liam Lawson: 1m18.840s
8. Sergio Perez: 1m21.024s
9. Lance Stroll: 1m46.404s
Mercedes’ lap count was topped by Ferrari, though, after Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc managed 170 laps between them.
Here’s how the teams that ran on Thursday managed, according to SoyMotor:
Ferrari: 170
Mercedes: 168
Racing Bulls: 111
Cadillac: 66
McLaren: 48
Aston Martin: 5
At the other end of the timings is George Russell, who ended his day with a lap time of 1m16.445s - and a tally of 78 laps to his name.
With the tally of his team-mate in the morning session, this means Mercedes completed 168 revolutions of the Barcelona circuit on Thursday.
The lone timed lap that the AMR26 completed was a slow one at just 1m46.404s - the really running will start tomorrow.
Almost as soon as it appeared, the Aston dissapeared.
With Lance Stroll reportedly at the wheel, the AMR26 stopped on track and brought out the red flags. This brought today's running to a dramatic end.
Here it is! Our first glimpse of the AMR26 - what do you think?
The clock is ticking down on the fourth day in Barcelona.
On the lap chart, it looks like George Russell is still the quickest driver of the day with his 1m16.641s. He's followed by team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli with a 1m17.081s and Charles Leclerc with a 1m19.128s.
Lack of livery aside, the AMR26 looks to be an interesting machine, with a few flourishes that appear to be unique compared with its rivals.
Here's hoping we get some clear shots of the new car on track soon!
For fans of grainy footage shared on social media, and who among us isn’t at this stage in testing? It looks as though Aston Martin has made it out on track with the AMR26 for an installation lap!
Will it get a time on the board before the end of the day?
This quick time could be why Russell's team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli says the team has "high confidence and high hopes" after the shakedown.
When asked by F1 TV about the atmosphere in the team heading to the official test in Bahrain, Antonelli said:
"We go there with high confidence and high hopes because, definitely, it's been good.
"Obviously, we had our issues during the shakedown, but we were able to fix them and now we can be sure that in Bahrain we can more or less hit the ground running there as well.
"So definitely, we will go there with a better understanding of the car."
And with just an hour remaining on that clock, let's check in on the lap times.
George Russell is still on top for Mercedes in the W17, his time of 1m16.641s is the best we've seen so far - but remains more than five seconds adrift of the qualifying times set at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in 2025.
Of course, testing times don't mean much - especially when they are set in the winter on an incredibly cold track.
Cadillac boss Graeme Lowdon has spoken to Autosport about the “voyage into the unknown” that is the 2026 Formula 1 season.
His side will complete its pre-season shakedown when the clock runs down today, a feat that he believes is a “huge achievement for everyone in the team".
Hamilton also confirmed his lap tally for the morning, having lapped the Barcelona circuit 85 times – a feat he said was “amazing”.
Lewis Hamilton has been speaking to F1 TV about his shift in the SF-26 earlier today, which he says has helped with his understanding of the new car:
“It was nice to get out in the dry and do some running, because obviously our first day was in the miserable wet weather," he said.
“So, it was great to be able to get some running and understand the tyres. We did the C2 and the C1, [it was] so cold that the tyres are not really working so much. But got through our programme and a bit of an understanding of where the car is at and where we need to improve.”
There's still no sign of Aston Martin on track. With a little over an hour and a half remaining in today's session, time is running out!
The British team is reportedly on the ground in Spain but hasn't yet taken to the track.
Away from the lap times (which don’t mean anything in testing), Liam Lawson has had more to say about his running with Racing Bulls.
When asked if his team was where it expected to be in terms of mileage and data, the New Zealander said: “In terms of mileage, yes. We've honestly had a pretty strong test in terms of reliability, so that's been a box ticked.
“In terms of expectations, it's very hard. Obviously, we don't know where anybody else is. So that will still be quite unknown for a while, but the main thing is we're getting the laps down that we want to, and learning what we need to about our car.”
It’s a big year for the Kiwi as he is the new team leader at Racing Bulls, partnering F1 rookie Arvid Lindblad.
Of course, Racing Bulls, McLaren and Aston Martin are also in action today, but little has been heard from these three teams so far this afternoon.
While Williams isn’t in Barcelona, Cadillac, Ferrari and Mercedes are!
The three teams are out on track, and Mercedes and Ferrari have both clocked timed laps from George Russell and Charles Leclerc respectively. But obviously, we can’t read anything into them as this is just a shakedown:
George Russell: 1m17.167s
Charles Leclerc: 1m19.128s
It's dry on track in Barcelona today, but Tuesday was a different story!
Here's a glimpse at how the Ferrari fared in the wet conditions earlier this week.
Benh_5 is right about Lewis Hamilton and race number one, when they say “By my quick calculation if Hamilton had chosen number #1 when he was World Champion he would pip Schumacher for the GPs done."
The Brit only raced with #1 after his first title in 2008, but had he chosen it after his wins in 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 then he would have run #1 in 137 grands prix.
Lewis Hamilton, McLaren MP4-24
Photo by: Rainer W. Schlegelmilch / Motorsport Images
On the subject of Cadillac’s first livery in F1, Lotus109 says they are “fully expecting the Cadillac livery to resemble the IMSA liveries with the stripes/blocks of colour on the engine cover. Only question is what the main overall colour will be?”
I hope this is the case and, if so, I’ll take the yellow that Cadillac previously ran as the main colour – there aren’t enough yellow cars in F1 these days!
#01: Cadillac Racing, Cadillac VSeries.R, GTP: Renger van der Zande, Sebastien Bourdais, Scott Dixon
Photo by: Richard Dole / Motorsport Images
Liam Lawson has been speaking about his stint in the Racing Bulls VCARB 03 this morning, and is the latest driver to comment on how different the new generation of cars feel.
"So far it's been good,” he told reporters. “Obviously, a very different year to come into Formula 1 with these cars.
“The main goal is to just try and keep learning and improving the car and discovering what we can.”
Two new teams join the fray in F1 2026, with Audi taking over the Sauber team and Cadillac joining as an all-new outfit.
The American team has run a special shakedown livery all week and will debut its final look in an advert during the Super Bowl – what are you expecting? More black and silver, or something more vibrant?
Sergio Perez, Cadillac F1 Team
Photo by: Sergio Perez
Ferrari is using the lunch break to share shots of Lewis Hamilton after his running this morning. The Brit has so far logged a time of 1m18.654s in the SF-26 and clocked 87 laps, according to data reported by SoyMotor.
We're ready for the afternoon session in the Barcelona 'shakedown', keep your questions coming in as the teams prepare their 2026 machinery for the new F1 season!
Meanwhile, a thousand miles away or so, work is ongoing at Williams' Grove factory.
Three days and a half into this pre-season test, here's unofficial mileage data per engine manufacturer.
- Mercedes (Mercedes, McLaren, Alpine, Williams) - 646 laps
- Ferrari (Ferrari, Haas, Cadillac) - 361 laps
- Red Bull Ford (Red Bull, Racing Bulls) - 342 laps
- Audi (Audi) - 95 laps
- Honda (Aston Martin) - 0 laps
In italics, the teams which are yet to run this week
Shall we delve into fun facts?
Here are the drivers who have raced the most with the number one.
- Michael Schumacher, 120 GPs
- Max Verstappen, 92 GPs
- Sebastian Vettel, 77 GPs
- Alain Prost, 48 GPs
- Ayrton Senna, 48 GPs
- Niki Lauda, 47 GPs
- Nelson Piquet, 47 GPs
- Fernando Alonso, 35 GPs
- Mika Hakkinen, 33 GPs
- Emerson Fittipaldi, 32 GPs
The number one was only attributed to the reigning world champion from the mid-1970s onwards, and Graham Hill raced it on 19 different occasions in 1962, '63, '64, '68, '69, '70 and '72.
There he is in his penultimate F1 race, the 1972 Argentine GP.
Graham Hill, Brabham BT33 Ford
Photo by: Motorsport Images
Meanwhile, Lando Norris reflects on having the number one on his car.
The last Briton to have it was Jenson Button in 2010.
We're still waiting for Aston's AMR26 to emerge from the garage. We have had no news from/about the team, but there is little doubt ambitious owner Lawrence Stroll will be dissatisfied with the delay.
By: Autosport Staff
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