RB22 in the hands of Verstappoen: Day 2 Barcelona 2026

Formula One’s biggest technical regulation change in history for 2026 had many amongst the teams, the FIA and FOM concerned they would be perceived a failure at early testing. The first of the pre-season tests – although for contractual reasons with Bahrain its called a shakedown – is now into day two at the Circuit de Catalunya.

Just 39 days after Lando Norris claimed his maiden F1 championship the teams are ready to go with all new cars and powertrains. Yet there have been casualties along the way, with Williams not in attendance for a variety of technical reasons. The first being thy have repeatedly failed the FIA’s crash test for the nose cone together with the fact the car is vastly overweight.

McLaren too have delayed the start to testing their car and Aston Martin have indicated the most they will achieve is some running on the final two days this week. However, seven teams and all the power unit manufacturers with the exception of Honda, were on track as the lights went green in Montmelo on Monday morning. All eyes were on Red Bull who are the first ever F1 customer team to build their own power train, with many expecting them to fall at the first hurdle.

 

 

 

Russell impressed with Red Bull

Yet the sleek RB22 in the hands of Max Verstappen’s new team mate Isack Hadjar, was impressive, even drawing attention from rival drivers and teams. When asked about how the day had gone for Mercedes, George Russell chose to name check the team’s arch rivals Red Bull along with Ferrari as having stand out days.

“For sure we’re very pleased with the day, but I was pretty impressed with a number of other teams, to be honest,” he said.“You see the Red Bull-powered teams, [with] a brand-new power unit, and they had a really smooth day with two cars. Haas did the most laps of everyone with a Ferrari engine.

“So it’s not quite 2014 vibes of half the grid is breaking down and having loads of issues. Formula 1 has evolved so much since then and the level is just so high, from every single aspect. It was pretty impressive to see all the teams on the whole having a lot of laps under their belts on day one,” the Mercedes’ driver concluded.

Whilst the day and the week was supposed to be a black out to the media, the vantage points around the circuit were filled with fans and long lenses alike. Security teams were sent to gently move folk along, although this merely saw them pop up at another viewpoint around the circuit.

Red Bull rivals confused over sidepod design

 

 

 

Fears saw Barcelona test marked ‘private’

The reason for the Barcelona test being declared ‘private’ was based on fears from the teams of a repeat of 2014. Then at the introduction of the all new V6 hybrid powertrains, more than half the teams failed to make a lap count of double digits.

Lotus Renault failed to even make the event whilst the Mercedes powered McLaren and the Ferrari powered Marussia had technical issues which prevented any running at all. Caterham managed just one lap, whilst Red Bull completed just three whilst Williams along with Sauber completed just seven laps each. The remainder of the field was as follows: Ferrari (31), Mercedes (18), Torro Rosso (15) and Force India (11). In total between them the F1 teams completed just 93 laps in eight hours of the track being open.

The rest of the 2014 three day test was little better, with Red Bull completing just 27 laps across the 24 hours of track time available. Yet the great and good in F1 didn’t need to fear a repeat of the last big powertrain chase and on the first day in Barcelona only Audi ran fewer laps than Ferrari in 2014 who led the way on day one.

Ferrari genuinely unconcerned over Mercedes engine trick

 

 

 

Horrors of 2014 not repeated

The Haas F1 powered by Ferrari completed 154 laps, whilst in second was Mercedes five laps further back. Red Bull who everyone expected to struggle with their new in house PU were third completing 107 laps. These three teams completed more than the entire field of 2014 on day one in Jerez.

Throughout the twelve days of testing in 2014, there were persistent issues and break downs and come the season opener in Australia, just thirteen of the twenty two cars saw the chequered flag. And this was seen as a success after the new turbo hybrid era limped into life on the Iberian peninsula.

So have F1 missed a trick in setting this test behind closed doors? Of course Aston Martin and Williams in particular may be embarrassed about their no show, but had the test been been ‘official’ maybe those teams would have made a greater effort to attend.

F1’s engine row to rumble on past Melbourne

 

 

 

Barcelona test: A missed F1 PR opportunity

Further, reliability issues whether with a chassis or a power unit are invariably solved in relative quick time. If they are not then regardless of the private test, the matter will become a big story, were a team to limp along for several weeks.

The Barcelona test has been a missed opportunity for F1 to shout from the hill tops what an incredible achievements their engineering departments have genuinely made. In fact those involved in the latest NASA space race would be impressed in how quickly the F1 teams solve huge challenges and move forwards, unlike the traumas and massive overspend of the latest Orion spacecraft.

Fans must now wait until February 11th in Bahrain before they will receive any kind of decent media coverage and even the teams who are happy with their progress in Spain, are only allowed six car pictures a day on their social media platforms. F1 must never again bow to the fear of failure as it has done in 2026. This sport is the most technical on earth and has the fastest rate of progression and should be recognised for its massive achievements. 

 

 

 

Draw dropping admission that Hamilton is 100% committed to changing his driving style

Lewis Hamilton has been wounded by comments from his former rivals suggesting after his worst ever season in Formula One he should have retired. The report in Blick claims that this has woken “new demons” in the save times champions mind which will drive him onto further success.

The former McLaren and Mercedes driver suffered his first in nineteen seasons where there podium on Sunday eluded his grasp. He was hammered in the head to head with team mate Charles Leclerc which in qualifying was 19-5 in favour of the Monegasque and 18-3 in terms of finishing positions in the Grand Prix.

F1 analysts believe Lewis never fully understood how to drive the ground effect cars which were in existence from 2022-25. The speed at which the underfloor centre of pressure moved from forward to rear and back again made the cars feel loose at the rear for Hamilton costing him in terms of confidence and ultimately lap time…. READ MORE