As two of the F1 2026 newcomers, Audi F1 and Cadillac, were racking up the laps in Barcelona, Williams posted an image of Carlos Sainz only just carrying out his seat fit in the FW48 seat.
It hit home how well Audi and Cadillac have done to get to this point. But the troubles experienced by both teams in Barcelona also showed how much road they have left to travel…
Audi F1 and Cadillac deserve patience in F1 2026
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A version of this article originally appeared in PlanetF1.com’s conclusions from the Barcelona shakedown
A good indication of just how well Audi and Cadillac have done to get to this point came on the penultimate day of running in Barcelona last week.
As most of the other teams were collecting the laps, Williams posted an update on its own 2026 preparations from deep inside the factory at Grove.
“Another piece of the puzzle complete,” the team captioned an image on social media of Carlos Sainz finally carrying out his seat fit in the 2026 car (below).
Williams’ post of Carlos Sainz’s FW48 seat fit
That’s the same Williams, you’ll recall, which ended car development early last season as part of its masterplan to make the best possible start to 2026.
Despite being the first brand-new team to arrive in F1 in a decade, Cadillac managed to hit that particular milestone an age ago, posting footage of Valtteri Bottas’s seat fit on December 8 – 24 hours after the final race of last season in Abu Dhabi.
Audi, meanwhile, seemed to consider it a badge of honour when it became the first team to take to the track with its 2026 car for a shakedown on January 9, more than two weeks before the start of the first test.
For all the sense of achievement of making it this far and meeting these early deadlines, however, the Barcelona shakedown was a reminder that both these teams still have a long road ahead.
No team to carry out three days of running this week completed fewer laps than Cadillac (164) with the team managing no more than 66 on a single day.
Audi fared only marginally better, managing a combined 95 laps on its first two days of running before salvaging the situation with 144 laps on the board on Friday.
The team’s suspect reliability – Gabriel Bortoleto did not reappear on Day 1 after suffering what was confirmed as a “technical issue” before the lunch break – also did nothing to eradicate long-held fears over the Audi engine.
It took no shortage of hard work for these teams to make the start of testing.
Yet Audi and Cadillac are finding out that the real hard work is only just beginning.
Nico Hulkenberg: Audi F1 has found ‘the direction’ after Barcelona
Perhaps a muted start to testing will prove a good thing for Audi F1 over the long term.
In a post to social media the end of the Barcelona shakedown, Nico Hulkenberg suggested that Audi now “know the direction” to take in 2026 as a result of its experiences in Spain.
Hulkenberg’s post came after Mattia Binotto, the head of what has become known as the ‘Audi F1 project’, offered a frank assessment of the team’s test.
Asked about the team’s plans ahead of the second test in Bahrain, Binotto told Formula 1: “It’s a lot of work. It’s a lot of work for the entire team.
“It’s a lot of work for the drivers, for the engineers back at home, fixing all the problems – design, operational, whatever we have seen.
“So it’s really, for us, no stones unturned. All the details need to be somehow managed and need to be fixed.
“So we’ve got a very long list – a very, very long list. I’ve never seen such a long list.
“But again, I think it’s great because the team is really committed, willing to to improve and somehow come to Bahrain in a better shape.”
Binotto went on to insist that Audi is “doing well for where we are in our journey.”
Cadillac F1 set for second filming day ahead of Bahrain test
Additional reporting by Thomas Maher
Cadillac is set to hold a second filming tomorrow (Monday) ahead of the start of the second test in Bahrain, PlanetF1.com understands.
The American team was among the first teams to take to the track in 2026, using up its first filming day at Silverstone on January 16.
However, Cadillac’s 164 laps in Barcelona left the team 76 adrift of next-best Audi and 336 behind Mercedes, which completed the most laps of all in Spain with 500.
Teams are allowed two filming days – primarily used to collect material for promotional and commercial purposes – with their current cars each season.
Cadillac’s latest filming day will fall two days before the start of the first Bahrain test, which is to be held across February 11-13.
The filming day is also likely to see the team take to the track with its full F1 2026 livery for the first time.
Cadillac’s permanent livery will be revealed in an advertisement during the Super Bowl later today.
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