F1 2026 testing: All you need to know from Day 1 in Barcelona

Red Bull driver Isack Hadjar set the pace on the opening day of F1 2026 pre-season testing in Barcelona.

After topping the morning session, Hadjar clocked a fastest time of 1:18.159 to edge out Mercedes driver George Russell by 0.537 seconds. Alpine driver Franco Colapinto was third.

F1 2026 testing kicks off with Barcelona shakedown

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Formula 1 is holding a so-called ‘Shakedown Week’ in Barcelona between Monday and Friday as teams get to grips with their new F1 2026 cars for the first time.

The Barcelona test, which is being held behind closed doors, represents the first official running of the new season with two further pre-season tests to come in Bahrain next month.

It emerged ahead of the test that reigning constructors’ champions McLaren and Ferrari would not take part in Monday’s running, with the Aston Martin team also absent for the opening three days at least.

Williams, meanwhile, confirmed last week that the team will miss the entire five days of testing in Barcelona.

That left only seven of the 11 teams hitting the track on Monday with Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes, Colapinto’s Alpine and Gabriel Bortoleto’s Audi the first out of the pit lane.

Antonelli set the pace in the early stages of the morning session, ending with a 1:20.700 according to unofficial data, but it was Red Bull debutant Isack Hadjar who ended the first morning session of 2026 testing on top.

Hadjar clocked an unofficial fastest morning time of 1:18.835 to put the new Red Bull RB22 at the top of the timesheets, with the time difference unrepresentative at this early stage of testing.

It is understood that the morning session was interrupted by three red flags with Bortoleto, Colapinto and Liam Lawson’s Racing Bulls car all coming to a stop.

Audi confirmed to PlanetF1.com that Bortoleto had suffered a “technical issue” with his Audi R26, leading to his stoppage.

The afternoon session got off to a leisurely start with no cars returning to the track for more than 30 minutes.

Mercedes opted for a driver change over the lunch break with George Russell replacing Antonelli in the cockpit of the W17.

Cadillac followed suit with Sergio Perez, who turned 36 on Monday, taking over from teammate Valtteri Bottas.

When cars finally returned to the track, Haas driver Esteban Ocon got up and running by improving with a reported 1:23.014, 1.5 seconds faster than his quickest lap in the morning session.

Ocon is thought to have completed the most laps of any driver on Monday with reports that the Haas man managed 154 tours of the Barcelona circuit.

Perez, meanwhile, is believed to have largely kept his running to installation laps with Cadillac understood to have battled electrical issues throughout the first day.

Hadjar ended the day in top spot after trading fastest laps with Russell in the final hour of running.

F1 testing: Unofficial lap times from Day 1 in Barcelona

1 Isack Hadjar, Red Bull 1:18.159s 107 laps

2 George Russell, Mercedes +0.537s 93 laps

3 Franco Colapinto, Alpine +2.030s 60 laps

4 Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes +2.541s 56 laps

5 Esteban Ocon, Haas +3.142s 154 laps

6 Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls +3.354s 88 laps

7 Valtteri Bottas, Cadillac +6.492s 33 laps

8 Gabriel Bortoleto, Audi +7.137s 27 laps

9 Sergio Perez, Cadillac +7.815s 11 laps

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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