F1 Testing: Lando Norris drives as McLaren debut MCL40 while Mercedes continue strong showing in Barcelona
Kimi Antonelli topped the timesheet from Mercedes team-mate George Russell; Lando Norris was at the wheel for McLaren's first outing; watch F1 2026: Barcelona Shakedown with Ted Kravitz and guests every evening this week on Sky Sports F1 at 9pm, also available on YouTube
Wednesday 28 January 2026 23:40, UK
Mercedes' promising start to F1's new rules era appeared to continue on the third day of the Barcelona shakedown, which saw world champion Lando Norris finally debut the new McLaren on track.
Mercedes, hotly tipped by many in the sport to return to title contention in 2026, are understood to have clocked the most laps - 183 - among the six teams who ran on Wednesday at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Timings are not officially being published at the behind closed doors event but it is understood Kimi Antonelli set the fastest time of the test so far during his afternoon in the W17, clocking a 1:17.362.
- F1 2026: Testing, calendar, line-ups, new regulations, how to watch on Sky Sports
- When are F1 2016's final car launches? | Explaining the Barcelona shakedown test
- F1 latest: Latest news, gossips and rumours during pre-season
- Download the Sky Sports app for expert analysis, best video & more📱
Team-mate George Russell had earlier lowered Isack Hadjar's benchmark from Monday's opening day with a 1:17.580.
Lap times, however, are effectively irrelevant all week with the grid's focus on reliability and systems checks with their latest cars after what has been billed as the biggest technical rule change in the sport's history.
Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin said: "We are pleased with the mileage we achieved today and have ticked off most of the objectives we set ourselves for the first two days of running here in Barcelona.
"The car has been reliable, and we've been able to put together multiple race distances today. That is encouraging as an initial step, and I know both drivers will be feeling the number of laps they put in today!
"The drivers have commented favourably on the feeling these smaller, lighter cars give them compared to the previous generation. However, they will only be truly happy once we see the relative performance compared to our competitors and that is something we won't see until Bahrain at the earliest."
Norris: Nice to see number one on my car
After sitting out the first two days of running - the second of which was hit by rain when only Red Bull and Ferrari ran on Tuesday - world champions McLaren belatedly began their on-track pre-season preparations.
Norris, sporting the coveted reigning champion's No 1 on his car's nose for the first time, left the pit lane just before the start of the day's third hour and ended up completing 74 laps on the MCL40's debut. His fastest time is thought to have been a 1:18.307 to place him third on the timesheet.
Norris said: "It was just nice to be back here, nice to see the number one on my car. Pretty cool, pretty surreal still, so good feelings.
"Our first day on track, the 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. 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, 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."
Haas and Audi hit by reliability issues
Alpine split running between Franco Colapinto in the morning and Pierre Gasly in the afternoon, while Haas gave Oliver Bearman his first full day in their new VF-24.
Haas, who topped 150 laps on Monday, ran into a reliability problem which caused Bearman to stop and bring out red flags in the morning. But the Briton was able to get back on track and record 42 laps.
Audi also stopped on track, for the second time in as many days on track this week, but Nico Hulkenberg was also able to return to action after a spell in the garage and ended up on 68 laps.
British rookie Arvid Lindblad drove for Racing Bulls and put over 100 laps on the new Red Bull power unit, with the senior team not featuring on Wednesday after they ran on the opening two days, significantly damaging the RB22 on Tuesday when Hadjar crashed late in the day in the wet conditions.
Teams can run on three days of the five-day shakedown week. Aston Martin are still yet to run but their first Adrian Newey-designed car is understood to have arrived in Spain ahead of a possible track debut as early as Thursday.
More to follow...
Watch all 24 race weekends from the 2026 Formula 1 season live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW - No contract, cancel anytime
