The waiting is over. All but two of the power unit manufacturers have now tested their all new engines at the Circuit de Catalunya. Ferrari and Honda have yet to make their debut yet their remain doubts over whether Aston Martin will make this weeks test as Honda admit to being behind schedule.

Despite the test being held behind closed doors at the FIA’s behest, there has been plenty of images and video leaked from the first day of pre-season testing along with the mornings timing screens.

Mercedes were tipped to deliver the best of all the new powertrains and such was the hype, team boss Toto Wolff spent much of the summer publicly courting Max Verstappen to join his team for the 2026 season. In the end the quadruple worked champion elected to remain with his Milton Keynes based team who have developed their own F1 power unit in conjunction with Ford.

 

 

 

Red Bull surprisingly good day one of 2026 pre-season testing

Yet the jibes continued about Red Bull developing their own in house engine, given this is something no customer team has ever attempted in F1 history. Given the decades of history Mercedes and Ferrari in particular have in producing top flight motor racing engines, expectations were low for the partnership between Ford and the Red Bull F1 teams. 

The RB22 looked stunning with its minimalistic side pods and it was new boy Isack Hadjar who took the reigns for the first day in the Barcelona suburb of Montmelo. The last time all new F1 power units were introduced into the sport in 2014, Red Bull had a disastrous first test completing just 27 laps in three days around the circuit in Jerez.

Their then engine partner was Renault who had underinvested in the research and development for their V6 hybrid which saw the Milton Keynes based team in the wilderness for several years before their switch to Honda in 2019. Red Bull believe Isack Hadjar may become the most competitive team mate to Max Verstappen since Daniel Ricciardo who raced alongside the Dutchman from 2016-2018.

Hadjar at the recent Autosport awards has boldy backed himself to be in ‘championship contention’ and his first run in the RB22 would suggest his confidence may not be misplaced. Today he eclipsed Red Bull’s three day lap count from 2014 completing the most of any driver in the morning with a tally of 41.

Red Bull’s bizarre tyre choice for Barcelona

 

 

 

FIA withdraw timing in Barcelona

The FIA were running their timing systems for the teams on Monday morning, but due to a number of leaks from team personnel this was cut for the afternoon session. But not before Hadjar had in the fib hour before lunch, notched up a time of 1.18:835, which was 1.865 seconds faster than Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli in second place.

Three teams suffered on track stoppages, including Audi’s Gariel Bortoleto, Franco Colapinto in the Alpine and Esteban Ocon in the Hass F1 car. Red Bull had zero interruptions I their run place and along with Mercedes look to have the most reliable package at this early stage of the proceedings.

Absent were Williams who will not feature in Barcelona all this week, along with Ferrari, McLaren and Aston Martin. The news from Adrian Newey’s new team first thing, was the team did not expect to make the first two days of the test. Now there have confirmed they may only make the final two days this week, given Honda have admitted they are behind schedule.

The Aston Martin hospitality and motorhomes were in pace I the paddock and a spokesmen for the team revealed: “The AMR26 will be in Barcelona later this week for its shakedown. Our intention is to run Thursday and Friday.”

FIA engine row to continue beyond Melbourne

 

 

 

Aston Martin’s test schedule slips again

Much is expected of Adrian Newey’s first non-Red Bull Formula One car design in over two decades, although this setback will set alarm bells ringing back in Silverstone.

Newbies Audi and Cadillac impressively made the first day of testing, although the aerodynamic look of the American built machine looks relatively basic at present. All the teams will upgrade their cars over the next five weeks and Cadillac will have a host of new parts to test before they take to their first ever F1 race grid down under in Melbourne at the beginning of March.

The FIA blackout has created more intrigue than may have been the case were their a full media coverage of the new cars and powertrains, although it will not be a total vacuum of information for the fans. The teams are allowed 12 photographs posted a day to their social media accounts and just half of those can include a shot of the car.

In the UK Sky F1 is offering a 30 minutes highlights programme and some comment and opinion from 9pm local time, this will increase to an hour a day when the teams move on to test two in Bahrain. The final test will receive three full days of coverage, but until then its the snippets of information that will take the internet by storm.

 

 

 

Ferrari insider reveals “calm” in Maranello despite Mercedes engine trick

Many classrooms were half empty in the northern Italian towns of Sassuolo, Moderna and Regia-Emilia on Friday and it was not due to the usual inter-school sporting competitions. Young and old alike gathered outside Ferrari’s own race track in Fiorano, jostling for position on banks and road bridges which surround the circuit.

Such is the passion of the tifosi. No other team has seen this kind of interest at the shake down days for their 2026 F1 challengers. Such is the emotion evoked by the top flight racing cars in red livery, that veteran Italian F1 journalist Leo Turini reports the eyes of the Mayor of Maranello were misty as once again the hopes of the tifosi are raised ahead of the coming season.

“So we always come back here [Fiorano]: will this Ferrari have a soul? Or will it be added to the depressing catalog of unhappy, unsuccessful, worse developed projects?” He rhetorically questions….. READ MORE