What did Lewis Hamilton say after Thursday’s running?
“It was good to finally get some dry running and work through our programme. Everything is new under these regulations and the cars are very different to what we’ve been used to, with lower downforce, so there’s a lot to learn.
“The most positive aspect so far is the amount of laps we were able to put together, and that’s a real credit to the work done back at the factory.
“We’ve been able to gather valuable data, understand where the car is at, and start building a clear direction. It’s early days, but the process has been productive and we’re focused on continuing to learn, refine and move forward step by step.”
Lewis Hamilton testing the 2026 Ferrari F1 car (Scuderia Ferrari)
Kieran Jackson30 January 2026 13:45
ICYMI: Alpine confirm Christian Horner interest
Alpine said it was “no secret” that Otro Capital had held preliminary talks to sell its stake in the team, which finished bottom of the constructors’ championship standings last season.
Kieran Jackson30 January 2026 13:30
VIDEO: Martin Brundle on ‘feisty’ 2026 season to come
Kieran Jackson30 January 2026 13:10
Hamilton replaces Leclerc in the SF-26 for this afternoon…
Kieran Jackson30 January 2026 13:00
ANALYSIS: Can Lewis Hamilton challenge for F1 title? Everything we know about 2026 Ferrari car
Heading into his 20th year in the sport, Lewis Hamilton has witnessed his fair share of Formula 1 regulation changes. The most recent, in 2022, saw the Briton’s era of domination at Mercedes end with aplomb. As such, his move to Ferrari last year marked the start of a new chapter. Something fresh, decked in red.
Yet even Hamilton has acknowledged, as pre-season testing gets underway this week in Barcelona, that this year’s regulation shake-up is the biggest he has ever seen. So much so that, for all 11 teams, the sense of the unknown is palpable as they gather data and crunch the numbers ahead of the first race in Australia on 8 March.
Kieran Jackson30 January 2026 12:55
Day 5 morning session – timings
Here are the full stats from this morning, with Charles Leclerc setting the fastest time and Ollie Bearman clocking the most laps, at an impressive 105!
Charles Leclerc: 1:16:653 (79 laps)Oscar Piastri: 1:17:446 (79 laps)Max Verstappen: 1:18:285 (69 laps)Ollie Bearman: 1:18:423 (105 laps)Pierre Gasly: 1:19:754 (78 laps)Gabriel Bortoleto: 1:20:179 (64 laps)Fernando Alonso: 1:20:795 (49 laps)Valtteri Bottas: 1:22:790 (33 laps)
Kieran Jackson30 January 2026 12:42
McLaren’s technical director of performance, Mark Temple, speaking on Thursday:
“So, obviously there’s positives to take away. We’ve gone out, we’ve got a good understanding of where the car is from a baseline point of view, but obviously we’ve had some issues.
“We’ve not been able to do all the running that we would like. We discovered a fuel system problem. And the car’s very complex, so we decided to bring back into the garage, strip it down fully, understand where the problem is coming from.
“Obviously, that means we’re not back out on track at the moment.”
Kieran Jackson30 January 2026 12:30
The AMR26 is still somewhat limited in its early running, but Alonso has shaved nearly two seconds off his fastest time of the day.
That’s a 1:20:795 on the leaderboard for the Spanish veteran.
Hopefully we should receive the final times from this morning shortly!
Kieran Jackson30 January 2026 12:15
VIDEO: Hamilton says Ferrari’s pre-season going better than last year’s – so far!
Kieran Jackson30 January 2026 12:02
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc goes fastest
Leclerc sets a new fastest time – and it’s almost as quick as Russell yesterday!
Charles Leclerc: 1:16:653 (53 laps)Oscar Piastri: 1:17:446 (52 laps) Max Verstappen: 1:18:552 (55 laps) Ollie Bearman: 1:19:079 (86 laps) Pierre Gasly: 1:19:754 (59 laps) Gabriel Bortoleto: 1:20:919 (37 laps) Fernando Alonso: 1:22:479 (29 laps)Valtteri Bottas: 1:22:790 (33 laps)
Kieran Jackson30 January 2026 11:47