Formula 1 News: Report on Day 3 of the 2026 Pre-Season Testing in Barcelona

The third day of the 2026 Formula 1 pre-season shakedown test took place on Wednesday at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, conducted behind closed doors with no official live timing or public access. The times we list below are unofficial.

This secretive session allowed teams to evaluate their new cars under the upcoming 2026 regulations, focusing on reliability, initial performance, and setup tweaks. Six teams participated on this day: Mercedes, McLaren, Alpine, Haas, Racing Bulls, and Audi. The weather improved compared to earlier days, leading to a busier track, though teams were limited to three testing days total for the week. Mercedes showcased impressive pace and mileage, while several teams encountered technical issues causing red flags.

Key Highlights and Incidents

Mercedes dominated the session, achieving a 1-2 finish on the unofficial timing sheets with strong reliability. Kimi Antonelli (pictured above) set the fastest lap of the week in the afternoon, clocking a 1m17.382s on soft tires, improving on George Russell’s morning benchmark of 1m17.580s. The team completed a combined 183 laps (over 850 km), emphasizing long runs and consistency, with Russell focusing on harder C1 compounds but his fast lap was on softs. This performance capped a productive week for Mercedes, totaling 334 laps overall.

McLaren made its debut appearance of the test with the all-black MCL40, as Lando Norris took to the track for the first time this week. He completed 76-77 laps (over a race distance) and posted the third-quickest time, though he spent some time in the garage later in the day. The team plans to continue running through Thursday and Friday.

Alpine split its running between Pierre Gasly (67 laps) and Franco Colapinto (58 laps), focusing on data collection without major issues reported. Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad logged the highest lap count of the day at 120, demonstrating good reliability despite a brief red flag stoppage.

Technical gremlins affected other teams. Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg encountered early mechanical issues, causing a red flag after minimal laps, marking his second such incident of the test. The team managed to return to the track and complete 68 laps overall, but posted the slowest time. Haas’ Oliver Bearman faced two issues, including a more serious one that ended his day prematurely after 42 laps, triggering additional red flags. These stoppages were short and did not involve crashes, but they disrupted programs for the affected teams.

Notably absent were Red Bull (repairing damage from Isack Hadjar’s Day 2 crash and conserving their remaining test time), Ferrari, Cadillac, Aston Martin (planning to debut the AMR26 on Thursday), and Williams (skipping the entire test due to production delays).

All participating cars on Day 3 managed at least 42 laps, highlighting a focus on mileage over outright speed in this non-competitive environment. Teams now face decisions on Thursday and Friday running, with windier conditions forecast for the latter.

Unofficial Day 3 Formula 1 Test Results Table

Times and lap counts are unofficial, collated from multiple sources, and show minor discrepancies across reports (e.g., Antonelli’s best lap reported as 1m17.362s or 1m17.382s). The table below uses a consensus from the references, prioritizing detailed results where available.

Additional Notes

This test serves as an early indicator for the 2026 season, but with unofficial times and varying tire compounds, direct comparisons are limited. Mercedes’ strong showing suggests a competitive edge in reliability, while debutants like McLaren gathered valuable data. Teams will now shift focus to further development ahead of the official season start.