{"id":434011,"date":"2026-01-26T08:59:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T08:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/434011\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T08:59:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T08:59:10","slug":"formula-1-teams-in-race-against-time-for-the-barcelona-shakedown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/434011\/","title":{"rendered":"Formula 1 teams in race against time for the Barcelona shakedown?"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re now mere hours away from the start of a new era for Formula 1<\/a>. However, there are concerns that not everyone is ready for the Barcelona shakedown.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This season, teams face one of the biggest revamps in the sport\u2019s history. With overhauled engines, sustainable fuels, and a completely new aerodynamic concept, each car is bound to face some teething issues, making it imperative that they hit the track ASAP to iron out any kinks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In this context, the first test in Barcelona running from January 26-30 is a great opportunity to get going, and rack up a few miles behind closed doors (as the shakedown will be held in private). But there are already a few warning signs that teams are running out of time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

McLaren and Ferrari have announced that they won\u2019t be running on day one, while Williams won\u2019t be taking part<\/a> in the event at all. Of course, the teams are framing their absence as \u201cplanned additional development time\u201d, and it\u2019s way too early to jump to conclusions. After all, it\u2019s possible that they\u2019re so well prepared, they don\u2019t even need this additional testing!\u00a0No McLaren, Williams, or Ferrari on day one\"Williams-F1-2026\"\/<\/p>\n

However, three teams missing the very first day where they can fully test their new challengers does beg wider questions about their progress and the event itself, which is not a regular fixture on the F1 calendar.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Of all the day one shakedown absentees, Williams is arguably the most glaring. The team publicly announced that it had stopped developing last year\u2019s car pretty early in the season. So delays to the FW48\u2019s development plan will be a major disappointment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Instead of travelling to Spain, they\u2019ll conduct a series of internal tests, including a virtual track testing program, with the aim of being ready for the next round of testing in February.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a long road ahead in the development of these cars, so it\u2019s not the end of the world for Williams. But they may now spend vital testing time in Bahrain doing initial checks.<\/p>\n

For McLaren and Ferrari, fewer warning lights are flashing. Last week, Andrea Stella explained that \u201cevery day of development, every day of design, was adding a little bit of performance.\u201d So, the Woking outfit is waiting until the last moment to hit the track (while still getting the miles in later on). It\u2019s a similar story for the Scuderia, who\u2019ll start running on day two or three of the test.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Teams will be permitted to run for three of the five days, so it\u2019s not like McLaren and Ferrari will miss out. Fred Vasseur has confirmed that his team will run the SF-26 for the first time since its public debut at Fiorano<\/a> on day two, but they\u2019ll \u201chave to finetune with the weather forecast\u201d \u2013 it seems neither of these expected frontrunners is in a rush to hit the track!How teams are shaping up for F1\u2019s new era\"Perez-Cadillac-Silverstone-2026\"\/<\/p>\n

Teams have taken very different approaches to launching their 2026 spec cars. As you\u2019d expect, Cadillac and Audi have taken a guarded approach, stage-managing a lot of what we\u2019ve seen so far.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, Alpine unveiled their new car onboard a ship<\/a> \u2013 which was something of a throwback \u2013 but it was more of a livery launch than anything else.\u00a0Red Bull\u2019s own livery launch marked a surprising departure from its traditional colours, while Haas issued a predictable render with Toyota TGR branding<\/a> emblazoned on the side.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Ferrari and Mercedes have shown a little more of what they\u2019ve got in-store. Both cars have already hit the test track, with Mercedes racking up 200 km of mileage<\/a>\u00a0on their new engine. During their filming days, both also showed parts that are clearly well-developed. Ferrari\u2019s \u2018jagged\u2019 engine cover being one of the more noticeable. It\u2019ll be interesting to see which team has taken the right development approach.\u00a0Racing Bulls is another to have hit the test track early on at Imola (where Arvid Lindblad binned it!<\/a>) A few trackside shots revealed an abnormally large airbox, but there was little to learn from a short 15 km run. It may be behind closed doors, but the longer Barcelona shakedown will tell more in the coming days.\u00a0What will we learn at the Barcelona shakedown?\"Hamilton-SF-26-2026\"\/<\/p>\n

Unlike the private filming days some of the teams have embarked upon, the full shakedown won\u2019t have the same mileage and tyre limitations. This will give them time to test all the essential systems, get a few laps into their new power units, and see if simulations match up to reality. It\u2019ll be difficult to ascertain performance, but it\u2019ll give us an idea of reliability.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As with everything in F1 nowadays, we\u2019re also bound to get daily broadcasts, both with soundbites from the team bosses, and highlights of the new-look cars racking up laps.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That said, it won\u2019t exactly be an on-track action-fest. Teams are restricted to three days of running, there will be a lot of methodical setup work going on. Perhaps it\u2019s for the best that it\u2019s not going to be on TV! At least it\u2019ll help most teams prepare for the sport\u2019s full traditional testing program in Bahrain on February 11-13 and February 18-20.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Stay tuned to GP247 as we unpack all the news from the F1 2026 Barcelona shakedown as it unfolds. (Quotes by SkySports<\/a> & Formula 1<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We\u2019re now mere hours away from the start of a new era for Formula 1. However, there are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":434012,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[37348,37185,584,3846,1205,49,4228,48,578,28673,930,180423,576,577,40610,7935,136946,590,1881,3015,1882,82,1196],"class_list":["post-434011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-andrea-stella","tag-arvid-lindblad","tag-audi","tag-bahrain","tag-barcelona","tag-ca","tag-cadillac","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-f1-news","tag-ferrari","tag-fiorano","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-frederic-vasseur","tag-haas","tag-imola","tag-mclaren","tag-mercedes","tag-racing-bulls","tag-red-bull","tag-sports","tag-williams"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434011\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/434012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}