F1 Testing: New 2026 rules era begins at Barcelona shakedown with Red Bull and Mercedes making positive starts
Seven teams feature on opening day of testing with Red Bull's first-ever engine completing over 100 laps; Mercedes and Ferrari-engined Haas also record centuries; watch F1 2026: Barcelona Shakedown with Ted Kravitz and guests every evening this week on Sky Sports F1 at 9pm
Monday 26 January 2026 20:18, UK
Formula 1's new rules era formally began in Barcelona on Monday with seven of the grid's 11 teams hitting the track on the opening day of 2026's closed shakedown week in Spain.
Behind closed doors at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya with no media present, the teams who chose to run on day one were Mercedes, Red Bull, Racing Bulls, Haas, Alpine, rebranded Audi and the all-new Cadillac outfit.
Teams are allowed to run on three days of the five-day test in which the focus is reliability running over performance given the all-new nature of 2026's cars and engines.
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McLaren and Ferrari had already said they would not be running on Monday, while Williams are not attending the test at all due to delays with their 2026 car.
Aston Martin, meanwhile, confirmed on Monday that they intended to run on Thursday and Friday - the test's final two days - only as the world waits for the first look at Adrian Newey's debut design for the team.
Although there are no live timings during the test, with 'official' pre-season testing running not under way until the first of two tests in Bahrain from February 11, it is understood that Isack Hadjar set Monday's pace in the new Red Bull RB22 - which is running the team's own Ford-backed power unit for the first time.
The Frenchman had set the morning pace and, although he was usurped by Mercedes' George Russell midway through the afternoon, he ended up going faster than the Briton with a day-best 1:18.159.
"It was pretty productive, surprisingly," said Hadjar, who has stepped up from Racing Bulls to be Max Verstappen's team-mate this year.
"We managed to do a lot more laps than we expected.
"Everything went pretty smooth. We had like only minor issues, so it's quite impressive considering it's our first day with our own engine. It was definitely smooth."
Russell was second fastest, 0.5s back, as he put 95 laps on the new Mercedes W17 during his afternoon in a car many have long tipped to feature prominently at the head of the grid in the new season.
"We are pleased with our day, but I've also been impressed by several other teams too," said Russell.
"The Red Bull power unit has completed a lot of laps which, given that it's their first engine they've built, means they've clearly done a good job."
Team-mate Kimi Antonelli drove the W17 during the morning and had been the first driver on an initially-damp track at the 9am local-time green light. The Italian completed 56 laps, meaning Mercedes racked up 151 in total.
"It's a massive learning," said Antonelli about the nature of F1's new-look cars.
"We've been trying to tune the power unit and the car, and obviously this afternoon the car has improved a lot, and it's a constant learning.
"The most important is trying to get the running, as many laps as possible, in order to tune the power unit and car in the best way possible."
On Mercedes' 2026 power unit, which many have tipped to prove the early class of the field, Antonelli added: "The team did a really good job and driveability, which was a big question mark, seems to be good so far.
"Obviously, it's early days, and that's why with the running we will discover a lot more about the car and the PU and we'll be able to see where it's lacking or where it's actually good, but, so far, the package is feeling good."
Alpine have replaced Aston Martin as a Mercedes engine customer and they took third on the opening day's timesheet with Franco Colapinto. The Argentine completed 60 laps across his full day in the A526, bringing out one of three red flags in the morning due to what is believed to have been a sensor issue on the car.
Haas, giving the full testing debut to Ferrari's new power unit, completed the most laps of any team with Esteban Ocon racking up 154 during his full day in the new VF-26 - more than the equivalent of two Barcelona F1 race distances.
Cadillac join the F1 fray as new-look Audi hit early stumbling block
The opening day provided a milestone for the Cadillac team - the grid's new 11th entrant - who were on track alongside the 10 existing F1 outfits for the first time.
Valtteri Bottas marked his return to the sport after a year's absence by making his debut in the morning before team-mate Sergio Perez - who gave the challenger its debut during a Silverstone shakedown earlier this month - took over after lunch as the Mexican gears up for his own F1 comeback.
"It's great to be back!" said Bottas. "Also with this brand-new team in the sport, it's a really unique situation.
"Really enjoyed getting back on track. This was the first time I drove this car so it was just good to be out there.
"Obviously performance-wise I wouldn't say much yet but the main thing is we got some running done and, at the end, we got a little bit of a longer run in too.
"So these are the first steps of de-bugging and getting everything to work better."
While not a completely new team, Audi have completely rebranded the Sauber outfit in their own name over the winter and so Monday marked the full debut for the German manufacturer's first F1 car and engine on track.
But there were some early teething problems for the titanium and red R26 with Gabriel Bortoleto restricted to 28 laps.
Audi team principal Jonathan Wheatley said: "We had a technical issue with the car, we spotted it, decided to switch the car off on track.
"We've got plenty of testing this year and we wanted to really understand the problems, so we've been carefully analysing that.
"We're just getting the car prepped and ready, and we'll see what the weather conditions are for tomorrow to see whether it's a day that we'll run."
Light rain is forecast across the next three days at the circuit, with teams now set to watch their weather radars closely before deciding when to run next.
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