Ferrari responds to Mercedes – Ferrari made sure they had the final say at the end of the first Formula 1 test week in Barcelona, responding decisively after Mercedes set the benchmark the previous day. On Friday afternoon, Lewis Hamilton surprised everyone by posting the fastest lap of the entire test, giving Ferrari a timely boost ahead of the long journey towards the 2026 season opener.
After Mercedes dominated on Thursday, it was expected that the Silver Arrows would remain the reference point. However, it was Hamilton who stole the show during the final hour of the afternoon session, completing a lap of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in 1:16.348.
This time was just one tenth of a second quicker than the best time recorded the previous day by Mercedes driver George Russell.
While outright lap times during winter testing are rarely definitive, Ferrari’s late response ensured that the narrative heading into the next phase of preparations remained finely balanced.
Hamilton’s surprise on the last day of testing
Hamilton’s fastest lap was particularly notable in the context of Friday’s running. Mercedes had already exhausted its allocated testing mileage earlier in the week and did not participate on the final day, leaving the team to watch as Ferrari seized the spotlight.
Behind Hamilton, world champion Lando Norris ended the day second fastest in his McLaren with a time of 1:16.594, continuing an encouraging test for the reigning champion. Charles Leclerc, who drove the Ferrari in the morning session, finished third overall on Friday with a time of 1:16.653, highlighting the Scuderia’s consistency throughout the day.
Meanwhile, Red Bull remained largely under the radar. Max Verstappen placed seventh in the test classification with a fastest lap time of 1:17.586; a result offering little insight into Milton Keynes’ true competitive potential.
There were positive signs after a clean test week
Beyond the headline lap time, Ferrari’s biggest takeaway from Barcelona may have been reliability. Over the course of three days, the team experienced no significant technical issues, enabling both Hamilton and Leclerc to carry out their programmes without interruption.
For Hamilton, this represented a welcome change from the previous year. In 2025, the Briton endured a troubled pre-season in red, with difficult test sessions that later proved to be an ominous sign once the racing season began. This time, the contrast was clear.
“It was a really productive and enjoyable week,” said Hamilton after stepping out of the car for the final time. Setting the fastest lap at the end of the test boosted morale, but the seven-time world champion appeared to value the smooth accumulation of mileage just as much.
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Hamilton praises Ferrari for hard work
Hamilton was keen to highlight the efforts made behind the scenes at Maranello over the winter. According to the 41-year-old, the work completed by Ferrari’s engineers is already paying dividends on the track.
“The people at Ferrari have done a huge amount of work over the winter,” he said. “It’s good to see that reflected in the number of kilometres we’ve been able to complete here without major problems.”
Despite the encouraging signs, Hamilton was quick to temper expectations. He insisted that Ferrari still has plenty to address before the first competitive sessions of the year. ‘There’s still a lot to do before Melbourne,’ he admitted. ‘But the atmosphere in the team is good: focused and very positive.’
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Attention now turns to Bahrain and Melbourne
Now that the Barcelona test is complete, the Formula 1 paddock is shifting its attention to Bahrain. The next official test sessions are scheduled for 11–13 and 18–20 February, when teams are expected to refine performance runs and reveal their true pace.
The 2026 season officially begins on 6 March with the first free practice sessions for the Australian Grand Prix. Racing returns to Albert Park on 8 March, when Ferrari, Mercedes and their rivals will finally reveal how significant the Barcelona lap times really were.
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NEXT ARTICLE – Leclerc now a convert after initial negativity about F1 2026
Having driven Ferrari’s first effort at a virtual 2026 car in the simulator last July, Charles Leclerc looked like a man who’d seen a ghost when he reported the experience. “Let’s say it’s not the most enjoyable race car I’ve driven so far but we are still in a moment where the project is relatively new,” he said.
“My hope relies in the fact that it will evolve quite a bit in the next few months but it’s no secret that I think the regulations for next year is going to be a lot more … probably less enjoyable for drivers to drive. So yeah, I’m not a big fan of it for now but it’s the way it is and at the end of the day I think there’s a challenge and I would like the challenge of maximising a very different car to what it is at the moment. But will I enjoy it? Probably not.”
Hardly a ringing endorsement for what has been years of debate and procrastinating over the look and feel of the all new Formula One cars and their powertrains. And Leclerc was not alone in his criticism of the new F1 era as Lance Stroll opined after a session in the Aston Martin simulator.
New F1 era “a science project”
“It’s just a bit of a shame we’re just – Formula 1’s just – taking that path of electric energy and we’ve had to shed all the downforce off the cars to support the battery power,” he said. “It should be fun to see some light, nimble, fast cars with a lot of downforce and just simplify the whole thing a little bit. Less so of an energy, battery, championship, science project and more of just a Formula 1 racing championship.”
Stroll went on to reveal a number of other drivers felt the same, but were being gagged by their teams for “political reasons.” Now as the Barcelona test that wasn’t a test – it was a shakedown – draws to a conclusion, all the drivers have had a chance to experience not a ghost car on a screen but the real thing.
Immediately striking has been the conversion of Charles Leclerc who believed that 2026 would be “less enjoyable.” Having completed a mammoth 89 laps in the dry on Thursday, the Monegasque driver has shed is expectation of mere technical driving experience having felt the physical and intellectual demands required to get the best…CONTINUE READING THIS STORY
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