Day 3 of the Barcelona Shakedown is now complete, bringing the five-day event past the halfway mark. From which teams were out on track to what the drivers had to say, F1.com has rounded up everything you need to know following the third day of running at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in our Day 3 debrief…
Which teams and drivers ran?
It was a busy start when Wednesday’s morning session began, with George Russell the first to head out in the Mercedes – returning to action following his running on Monday – while Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindbald was next, the rookie getting his debut mileage of the Barcelona Shakedown.
Franco Colapinto joined the fray for Alpine, along with Ollie Bearman in the Haas and Nico Hulkenberg at the wheel of the Audi, the latter two drivers also making their first appearance at the event.
McLaren, meanwhile, initially spent time carrying out their final preparations in the garage before new World Champion Lando Norris emerged in the middle of the morning, sporting the #1 on his car.
After plenty of laps went on the board in the opening portion of the day – with Russell, Lindblad and Colapinto getting some particularly extensive mileage in – the action continued following a lunch break. Kimi Antonelli took over at the Silver Arrows, while Pierre Gasly gained his first laps of the shakedown for Alpine.
The afternoon session continued to be busy as a number of cars lapped the circuit in increasingly sunny conditions, before darkness fell as the end of the day neared and the chequered flag came down on Day 3.
Who is still to run?
The only team yet to start their programme at the Barcelona Shakedown are Aston Martin, having stated earlier in the week that they intend to run on Thursday and Friday.
Williams, meanwhile, previously confirmed that they will not participate in the event, but Team Principal James Vowles said in an update on Wednesday that their challenger has passed all mandatory crash tests and is ready for pre-season testing in Bahrain, with the first of two three-day tests set to get underway on February 11.
In terms of how many days each team still has available to them at the Barcelona Shakedown – with every outfit permitted to run on three out of the five days – Red Bull have one day remaining, as do Mercedes, Racing Bulls, Haas, Alpine and Audi, with all of these squads having used two days so far.
Cadillac and Ferrari – having each taken to the track on Monday and Tuesday respectively – can run across both of the remaining days, while McLaren are also set to continue their programme on Thursday and Friday.
What have the drivers said?
Following another day of good mileage for Mercedes, Russell spoke positively about how Day 3 had gone, with the Briton commenting: “We got a huge amount of laps in today between Kimi and I, which was great.
“The track was two degrees [Celsius] this morning, so I think maybe one of the coldest track temps I’ve ever driven in! But everything went really smoothly, and just getting through our test programme.”
In terms of what the remainder of the event holds for the team – who have one day left of permitted running – Russell suggested that the Silver Arrows will “look at more Qualifying-style runs”, while the decision on whether to run on Thursday or Friday “all depends on the weather”.
Having taken over from Russell during Wednesday afternoon, Antonelli admitted that he had enjoyed his running more than when he first hit the track on Monday morning.
“It was a better day today for me, because Day 1 was a bit disrupted by the wet track in the morning,” the Italian explained. “It was very enjoyable, this afternoon I did a lot of laps and was able to put a race sim [in], which was nice. Most important is that we did a lot of laps, a lot of mileage and a lot of data for the team, so it was a good day overall.”
Mercedes were not the only ones to achieve a solid lap count on Wednesday, with Lindblad also putting in an extensive mileage during a “really good” first day behind the wheel of the Racing Bulls machine in Barcelona.
“Obviously I was very happy to run today,” said the rookie. “The plan was to run yesterday but obviously with the rain it got delayed, so I was very excited to sort of get my first proper go this morning. I’ve really enjoyed the day, it’s been really good.
“We’ve run without really any problems, so full credit to everyone at VCARB and also at RBPT [Red Bull Powertrains] and Ford for the support. I think on that side, it’s been really good, and we got through the programme. There’s some bits to work on, but generally I think it’s been a positive day and I’m happy with how it’s gone.”
Lindblad was not the only driver to make their Barcelona Shakedown debut on Day 3, with Norris taking the McLaren MCL40 on track for the first time during the event. The World Champion smiled as he declared that it was “nice to be back” and to see the #1 on his new challenger.
Reflecting on the day further, Norris said: “[It’s been] our first time that everyone gets to see the car in one piece. It’s literally not been built until this morning, so it’s an incredible thing. Nice to see it all come together, nice to see all the hard work that everyone does to all make that car, and then I get to go and have some fun and drive it, which turned out to be a decent day.
“Today was really just a first understanding of the whole car, understanding just how it works really, going through the manual of everything. A productive day, but it’s one that’s really about just figuring stuff out, making sure things are working as they should, understanding things, getting our first picture on all of it.”
In terms of how it felt to drive the new 2026 car, the British driver explained: “It’s pretty different. Not even a huge step, I think it’s a bit of a step slower in terms of cornering speeds. In terms of acceleration and straight-line speed, it probably feels quicker than it did last year.
“It’s a bit more of a challenge in many places, which is a good thing, but then you have a bit more to understand from the battery, the power unit. All of those things are in some ways more complicated and just different, and whenever something’s different it always takes a bit of time to figure out the best way to look at it, to manage it, to use it, but that’s what these days are for us. I think we got a good understanding.”
Like Norris, Bearman admitted he was “really happy to be back on track” following the winter break, returning to the VF-26 after an initial run at Fiorano a few days before the Barcelona Shakedown. The Briton explained: “It’s very early stages in this cycle of regulations, and we’ve had so far up until now very clean laps and very clean running.
“It was impressive to come from Fiorano, straight away do our 200km limit, and arrive and be out at 9am two days later here in Barcelona with Esteban [Ocon, on Monday]. This morning unfortunately we had a small issue, but that’s what this is all about really – we expect to have these issues.
“Everybody’s learning the car, the new bits and procedures, so the problem we have that would have taken maybe 30 minutes with last year’s car, since everybody knew it so well, took a lot longer just because there are a few more intricate details and there’s just so much more to the power unit compared to what we’ve been used to.”
Other drivers enjoyed their first time out on track at the Barcelona Shakedown during Wednesday’s running, including Gasly, who took over from team mate Colapinto for the afternoon session. The Frenchman felt that Alpine had experienced a “good start” after clocking up a decent amount of laps.
As the Enstone-based squad prepare to embark on their first season with Mercedes power units, Gasly also shared his first impressions of the new engine.
“I must say, a lot feels different to what I’ve felt in my entire career in Formula 1, so there are quite a lot of references to reset,” he explained. “You can’t really compare with any other car from what I’ve driven in the past. It’s definitely a car that will take some time for all of us to adapt to, to fully understand and to get on top, but it’s a nice challenge ahead.”
It was also the debut shakedown appearance from Hulkenberg, with Audi resuming their programme after previously running on Monday with Gabriel Bortoleto at the wheel.
“A slow start today for us, but then we got a grip on everything and [had] a very productive, good afternoon,” the German commented at the end of Day 3. “A decent amount of laps in, a few things discovered and tested. It’s obviously the first few impressions collected, and we’ll work from here.”
Reflecting further on the mood within the team ahead of their debut season under the Audi name – having transitioned from the former Kick Sauber outfit – Hulkenberg added: “It’s good. Obviously it’s early days, but everyone is happy. We’re finally getting to run again, to learn about it.
“It’s going to be a long way, a long road from here to Bahrain and to the first couple of races, but I think everyone is very happy and positive and excited for the season ahead.”
What’s next?
Day 4 follows on Thursday, where – as mentioned above – Aston Martin look set to make their debut at the Barcelona Shakedown, while other teams will continue their programmes.
The weather forecast may play a role in who takes to the track, however; the squads with only one day remaining, for example, could select between Thursday and Friday based on which day is predicted to have better conditions.
