Barcelona Day 5: Leclerc fastest as Alonso’s F1 2026 debut steals the spotlight

Michelle Foster
Charles Leclerc in Barcelona

Charles Leclerc testing the SF-26 in Barcelona.

Ferrari was 1.8s slower than Mercedes following its second day of running at Barcelona, before Charles Leclerc upped his pace in the SF-26 to come within two-tenths of George Russell’s benchmark time in the W17.

But it was Fernando Alonso’s debut run in the Adrian Newey-designed Aston Martin AMR26 that caught the eye on Friday morning.

Charles Leclerc sets the pace but all eyes on Fernando Alonso

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The fifth and final day of the pre-season shakedown, in which eight of the teams were eligible to run, Williams excluded given it had already announced it wouldn’t be present, began with a flurry of laps as seven of the cars were out on track within the opening five minutes.

Aston Martin, with Fernando Alonso, took a few minutes to get going but it too was out within the first 20 minutes with the Spaniard driving the latest Adrian Newey designed F1 car.

According to unconfirmed reports, Alonso was running with a speed limit of between 230 and 275km/h as Aston testing its systems and the new Honda engine.

Verstappen, having sat on the sidelines for two days while Red Bull waited for spare parts to arrive, was the busiest and fastest driver in the opening hour as he clocked a 1:19.944 to sit P1.

He lost P1 to McLaren’s Oscar Piastri just before the hour mark, the Australian putting in a 1:18.950. Piastri upped his pace to a 1:18.240 in the second hour.

He lowered the benchmark time to a 1:17.446 to sit P1 ahead of Verstappen and Oliver Bearman as the top three after two hours of running. Alonso had yet to set a time, having run a programme entirely of installation laps.

Leclerc upped his pace to go third ahead of Bearman before putting in a 1:17.214 to take P1 off Piastri. The Ferrari driver went on to break into the 1:16s with a 1:16.949. Laying down the laps, he upped his pace to a 1:16.653, just two tenths shy of Russell’s benchmark time.

Alonso was also on the charge on the soft Pirellis and lowered his best to a 1:21.728 and then a 1:20.795.

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The morning’s session ended with Leclerc quickest of all with the 1:16.653. That put him eight-tenths up on Piastri with Verstappen third fastest.

Valtteri Bottas completed the timesheet in eighth place having covered the fewest laps with just 33 on the board.

Unofficial times from Barcelona Day 5 morning session

1 Charles Leclerc – 1:16.653 -79 laps
2 Oscar Piastri – 1:17.446 -79 laps
3 Max Verstappen – 1:18.285 -69 laps
4 Oliver Bearman – 1:18.423 -105 laps
5 Pierre Gasly – 1:19.754 -78 laps
6 Gabriel Bortoleto – 1:20.179 -64 laps
7 Fernando Alonso – 1:20.795 -49 laps
8 Valtteri Bottas – 1:22.790 – 33 laps

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