Also the fourth day of the shakedown in Barcelona is done again! Mercedes in particular made an impression on Thursday in Spain. Andrea Kimi Antonelli laid down the quickest time of the whole week in the morning run on the Spanish circuit, and team-mate George Russell was the first driver to dip under 1:17.000. It was a long wait for the debut of Aston Martin’s 2026 car at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. The AMR26 only came out on track in the very last hour.
The long‑awaited moment of the Barcelona shakedown finally arrived: the debut of Aston Martin. The British squad is running a car designed by Adrian Newey for the first time this year, but only put it on track in the final hour of the fourth test day at the Spanish circuit. Red Bull and Haas, by contrast, skipped the fourth day entirely. The Austrian team is still waiting for replacement parts for the RB22 after Isack Hadjar’s crash on Tuesday. Max Verstappen will therefore only return to action on Friday.
Lewis Hamilton, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Liam Lawson and Sergio Pérez took to the cold morning session – it was 5°C at the Spanish circuit, but dry – for Ferrari, Mercedes, Racing Bulls and Cadillac respectively. The seven‑time world champion produced the day’s first moment of drama: Hamilton spun the SF‑26 at Turn 11. It was Ferrari’s first spin of the season, after Tuesday in Barcelona passed without incident and both drivers combined for 120 laps. Hamilton alone completed 85 laps on Thursday morning. “Last year we had a worse start to testing, so given that it’s a completely new set of regulations, things are going better than we’ve experienced in the past,” the Ferrari driver said after his session. “So I’m hopeful that continues.”
Better day for Racing Bulls
For Red Bull’s sister outfit Racing Bulls, Thursday went much better than their opening test day, Lawson said during the lunch break. The New Zealander completed 64 laps in the VCARB03 during the morning session on his own. “We’re just keeping on learning,” Lawson told F1. “We’re obviously making big progress, but so is everyone else. They are very different cars, but we’re in a much better place than on Monday. That’s the important thing. We just have to keep learning and keep improving the car.” According to the New Zealander, Racing Bulls are on schedule for mileage: “To be honest we’ve put the car through a pretty tough reliability shakedown, so that’s a box we can tick.”
Around 09:00 UTC McLaren’s crew was also spotted at the circuit in Barcelona. Oscar Piastri took charge for the second test day after Lando Norris debuted the MCL40 with his new race number on Wednesday. Meanwhile Kimi Antonelli put in the first quick time of Thursday in his W17: a 1:17.081. It was immediately the fastest lap of the week in Barcelona up to that point. The Mercedes driver, about to start his second year in Formula 1, did a total of 90 laps.
Aston Martin only on track in the final hour
In the afternoon it was Charles Leclerc and George Russell’s turn to take over the wheel of the SF-26 and W17 respectively. The track was quiet, with just those two drivers running laps. Cadillac joined the pair later on. Russell had clear air to chase down his team-mate’s time and became the first into the 1:16s, posting a 1:16.928 on the timing screens.
It was still a wait, though, until Aston Martin made its debut. Around 16:00 UTC it finally happened: the AMR26 was spotted on track for the first time. The team later confirmed that the car had completed its opening kilometres on the circuit.
