{"id":443797,"date":"2026-01-30T21:21:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T21:21:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/443797\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T21:21:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T21:21:14","slug":"barcelona-hints-at-who-got-f1s-2026-regulations-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/443797\/","title":{"rendered":"Barcelona Hints at Who Got F1’s 2026 Regulations Right"},"content":{"rendered":"

Formula 1’s three-day test in Barcelona this week was mainly about data gathering and experimenting with new power units and aero packages, but showed encouraging signs for the upcoming season. Ferrari, Mercedes, and McLaren set competitive times and were closely matched, and, as a group, the drivers seem to like the new cars\u2014while admitting that they have much to learn about how to operate them.<\/p>\n

Williams skipped the test, having run out of time to get its FW48 to Barcelona<\/a>. This is how things unfolded for the other teams:<\/p>\n

Alpine<\/p>\n

2026 marks a big change for the Renault-owned team, as it has abandoned its own PU to become a Mercedes customer. A Silverstone outing last week gave Pierre Gasly a first taste of the new combination, albeit in the wet, while Franco Colapinto had to wait for Spain for his first run. It was a productive week for the A526 in terms of laps, although its ultimate potential remains unclear for now. \u201cA really busy schedule for us,\u201d said team boss Steve Nielsen. \u201cA new PU supplier, getting to work with Mercedes, so an awful lot to learn.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aston Martin<\/p>\n

Perhaps the biggest story of the week (other than the absence of Williams) involved the late appearance of Aston Martin. Things were running so late that the AMR26 was flown down late Wednesday night in a chartered freighter. The team finally made a brief appearance late Thursday in the hands of Lance Stroll before Fernando Alonso drove on Friday. The car immediately caused a stir thanks to some very different and complex aero parts\u2014a clear legacy of the input of Adrian Newey. Alonso logged some priceless miles on Friday. \u201cFor us, it was really the very first day,\u201d he said. \u201cSo I think we had a positive one, 60-plus laps, and the car is responding well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Audi<\/p>\n

The former Sauber team made its first proper appearance under its new guise, after an initial earlier private outing in Barcelona. The team has more work to do than others, given that the R26 is using the first Audi power unit and gearbox<\/a>, and inevitably, there were stoppages that restricted mileage, but by the final day on Friday, lap times had picked up. \u201cAs expected for a shakedown, we ran into a couple of issues,\u201d said Nico Hulkenberg. \u201cBut that\u2019s part of the process, and exactly why we\u2019re here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cadillac<\/p>\n

This was a huge week for Cadillac as the team appeared alongside its rivals for the first time<\/a>. After a private shakedown run at Silverstone for Sergio Perez, his teammate Valtteri Bottas had his first go in the black car. Like several others, the team ran on alternate days to give maximum time to take stock and crunch the numbers. Perhaps not surprisingly, the team was last in the overall lap time pecking order for the week, but ultimate speed is not the focus for now. \u201cWe’ve steadily worked through all the usual niggles,\u201d said team principal Graeme Lowdon. \u201cYou have to remember it’s only the fourth day of this team running their F1 car. Every day we’re getting more streamlined.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ferrari<\/p>\n

After a brief \u201cdemo day\u201d 15 km rollout in the wet at Fiorano, Barcelona was Ferrari\u2019s first proper run with the SF-26. The team put in some solid laps, although rain on Tuesday limited dry running. In Friday\u2019s final session, Lewis Hamilton set the best time of the week, beating the mark set by George Russell the previous day. The overall verdict was a positive one, with no major dramas in the camp. \u201cWe went through our program,\u201d said Charles Lelcerc. \u201cWe did everything we wanted to do, and we pushed a little bit more as well, which was nice, to feel a little bit the limit of this car.\u201d<\/p>\n

Haas<\/p>\n

The team had a shakedown run at Fiorano before taking the VF-26 to Barcelona and thus had something of a head start. However, it hit a few reliability problems, notably on its second day on Wednesday, when Oliver Bearman lost a lot of time. New parts flown in ensured a more productive Friday. \u201cWith this new regulation, both PU side and the chassis side, it\u2019s a big change,\u201d said team boss Ayao Komatsu. \u201cSo every time we are learning a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

McLaren<\/p>\n

McLaren had no running prior to the MCL40 taking to the track on Tuesday, running an all-black testing livery and the number one in recognition of the World Champion status of Lando Norris. Time was lost to a fuel system issue when Oscar Piastri ran on Wednesday, but he made up for it on Friday morning, while Norris was only just pipped to the top time of the week in the afternoon. Overall, it appeared to be a decent first outing. \u201cThere’s not been too many major surprises in terms of how I’ve got to drive or how the power unit works,\u201d said Piastri.<\/p>\n

Mercedes-AMG<\/p>\n

Many observers have cast Mercedes as favorites for this season, not least because of the way the team raced out of the blocks under the new hybrid rules in 2014. After a shakedown at Silverstone, the team did nothing to dispel those expectations as the W17 ran a huge number of laps\u2014and set the fastest time of the week up to the point when it packed up after completing its third day on Thursday. \u201cThe car is working well, but we know that it is not about the car working well,\u201d said George Russell. \u201cIt’s about how fast it can go. We don’t have any indication of that yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"formula<\/p>\n

Rudy Carezzevoli\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Racing Bulls<\/p>\n

The junior team had the honor of giving the new Red Bull\/Ford power unit its first laps in a filming day at Imola prior to Barcelona, which helped to ensure that any initial gremlins were addressed. It was a solid week for the Italian outfit, which, like Mercedes, finished its three days of running on Thursday. Brit Arvid Lindblad is the only rookie on the 2026 grid and has a lot to learn, but he was praised by team tech chief Tim Goss, who noted: “He’s really calm, really professional. Feedback is really straightforward. For someone so young, it’s really impressive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Red Bull<\/p>\n

The team had an encouraging first day with the Ford PU when Isack Hadjar logged a lot of seemingly trouble-free laps on Monday, and also topped the times\u2014an impressive start. However, the Frenchman crashed the RB22 late on Tuesday, and the need to get fresh parts through the system and sent from the U.K. kept the car off the track until Friday\u2019s final day, when Max Verstappen finally had some decent dry running. \u201cIn general, for us with the new engine to do the amount of laps that we did is very nice,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd it’s a good start for us. So, positive. But still very early days.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Formula 1’s three-day test in Barcelona this week was mainly about data gathering and experimenting with new power…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":443798,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,782,183418,784,578,576,577,1642,183417,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-443797","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-content-type-news","11":"tag-contentid-45b0d3d7-e1fc-41f7-8714-8e7b1bed13f0","12":"tag-displaytype-standard-article","13":"tag-f1","14":"tag-formula-1","15":"tag-formula1","16":"tag-locale-us","17":"tag-shorttitle-barcelona-hints-at-who-got-f1s-2026-rules-right","18":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443797","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=443797"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443797\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/443798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=443797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=443797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=443797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}