Unofficial F1 testing times: Day 1, Session 1

Mat Coch 26 Jan 2026 1:34 PM

Franco Colapinto heads out of the pit lane on the opening day of F1 pre-season testing in Barcelona.

Isack Hadjar put Red Bull fastest as the opening day of running at the first F1 2026 pre-season test began in Barcelona.

While no official timing is being provided from the opening five days of running, information received by PlanetF1.com has offered an unofficial glimpse into the pecking order.

Isack Hadjar fastest on opening day of F1 2026 Barcelona pre-season test

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Unofficial timing from the test has indicated that Hadjar has set a best lap of 1:18.835, a lap that came in the minutes approaching the lunch interval.

The five days of running in Barcelona all commence at 9am local time and run through until 6pm, with a one-hour break from 1pm.

During the opening morning, running was twice interrupted, once for Franco Colapinto’s Alpine and another for Gabriel Bortoleto’s Audi, which suffered a technical issue around midway through the morning’s session.

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Only seven teams have elected to run on the opening day, with teams able to pick three out of the five days this week on which to run.

McLaren and Ferrari are scheduled to appear on Tuesday, while Aston Martin has not yet confirmed its plan.

Williams announced last week that it will miss the entire Barcelona test.

Unofficial F1 Pre-season testing days, Day 1, Morning

Pos	Driver	Team	Laps	Best	Gap
1	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull	44	1:18.835
2	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	56	1:20.700	1.865
3	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	28	1:21.348	2.513
4	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	42	1:21.864	3.029
5	Esteban Ocon	Haas	67	1:24.520	5.685
6	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	33	1:24.651	5.816
7	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	27	1:25.296	6.461

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