Formula 1 Barcelona-Catalunya Pre-Season Testing

Lewis Hamilton recaps Ferrari’s “very challenging” 121-lap day at Barcelona F1 test

The rain made Ferrari’s first testing day tricky, but it was largely trouble-free for the Scuderia

Ferrari’s first day of 2026 Formula 1 pre-season testing was made “very challenging” by the rain but featured “no major issues”, Lewis Hamilton recapped.

F1 has reconvened for an opening five-day test behind closed doors at Barcelona, with teams allowed to run on three of those days.

After shaking down its new SF-26 at Fiorano on Friday with a 15km Demonstration Event, Ferrari opted to skip the first day of running – unlike most squads – and instead run on Tuesday.

That day was largely shunned by rival teams, with only Red Bull joining the Scuderia on track, due to the threat of rain in the afternoon; precipitation appeared at the Catalan track even sooner, halfway through the morning.

This meant Charles Leclerc and Hamilton had to deal with precarious track conditions in the morning and the afternoon respectively, but they still covered a whopping 121 laps according to unofficial timing.

“Very challenging today, obviously, because it started raining at 10:30, so obviously Charles had a little bit of dry running, but then it's been wet all afternoon, so figuring out how to get the tyres working,” Hamilton recounted.

“It was really productive, I think we got about 120 laps or something like that; given it's in the wet conditions and we had a red flag and that, I think that's pretty solid.

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

Photo by: Ferrari

“So, really proud of everyone back at the factory for getting the car to this point, and we got a lot of information on the car today. We definitely need to keep it up, lots and lots to do, but a good first day.”

A key aspect to this test is F1’s brand-new chassis and engine regulations, featuring active aerodynamics and a near-50:50 split between combustion and electric power as well as greater energy management to play with.

The last time the world championship had such a monumental overhaul was in 2014 when turbo hybrid power units were introduced, and the opening test had been a struggle for all teams due to an abundance of reliability issues – which, in 2026, puts Ferrari’s first test day into perspective.

“It could be so much worse on such a big regulation change,” Hamilton pointed out. “So to get through the day without too many major – there were no major issues, it's just small little increments that we're trying to improve on. I think it's great, and as I said, we just need to try and get some more days like this.”

The seven-time world champion was unable to fully get to grips with his SF-26’s new aerodynamic and engine tools on Tuesday due to the rain, but he was still enthused by the new machinery.

“I've had the privilege of being here for a long time, 19 years, so been through quite a lot of different cars,” he said, enumerating half a dozen different rulesets. “So a lot of different swapovers, but this is the biggest one that I've noticed.

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

Photo by: Ferrari

“I don't want to say too much about it just yet, because it's difficult to know. As I said, I've only driven it in the rain. I mean, it's a lot less downforce than we had last year, but we don't have the porpoising that we had last year, or at least in 2022 when we started it. So there's definitely positives.

“And it's massively challenging for everybody, for every team, which I think is great. It really puts everyone on the back foot. I mean, everyone's really going to kind of be on their toes and learning as you go.

“And whoever develops the fastest, whoever is the smartest in optimising the time and the energy deployment and development will be the ones at the top. And I think this gives everyone a chance to get to the top, which is good. And so we are just all hands on deck trying to make sure we maximise it.”