McLaren sets out Barcelona and Bahrain test plans with ‘no nasties’ found

With “no nasties” cropping up on the McLaren MCL40, the team’s chief designer Rob Marshall set out the plan for the week.

After rolling out onto the track for the first time on Day 3, McLaren will appear in the final three days of running in the Barcelona closed-doors shakedown. Reliability, and ensuring the car operates in all conditions, is the plan for McLaren in Barcelona, before performance becomes a consideration from the first official pre-season test in Bahrain.

McLaren MCL40 debut produces ‘no nasties’

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Lando Norris, the reigning World Champion, had the honour of taking McLaren’s new challenger, the MCL40, for its first drive on Wednesday in Barcelona.

With new chassis and engine regulations in effect, the teams and drivers are getting a feel for this new formula ahead of the two February tests at the Bahrain International Circuit.

Norris completed 77 laps in the McLaren on Wednesday. Speaking to the Formula 1 website, Marshall reflected: “Yesterday was all about shaking the car down, getting as much learning as we can from as many laps as we could get within a reasonable time frame.

“So we basically worked through just trying to learn as much as we could, just how the car operates.

“Obviously, there’s an awful lot new about these cars, all new from our point of view, so lots of learning for the mechanics in the garage and obviously a lot of learning for the drivers on track as well.”

Oscar Piastri took over driving duties in the McLaren on Thursday.

“The car went pretty well today,” Marshall continued. “We’re quite happy with it. No nasties. No really scary things went wrong. There’s obviously little gremlins here and there, but iron those out during the day.”

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Marshall would spell out how McLaren plans to use the remainder of this shakedown, which heads into its fifth and final day on Friday, as well as the agenda for Bahrain.

“We’re really treating this week as a shakedown,” said Marshall. “So this is for us to get the car, not dialled in, get the car reliable, running, explore all the envelope, make sure it’ll run in all the conditions we want it to run in.

“So we’re going all the way around the envelope, trying every single bit we can.

“And then when we get to Bahrain, we’ll try and dial the car in a bit better.

“Particularly since the conditions here are so cold, doing representative lap times is obviously going to be very difficult here.”

Very little has been carried over from the 2025 cars into F1 2026.

These new machines are smaller and lighter, in-keeping with the FIA’s nimble car concept. They utilise active aerodynamics on both the front and rear wings, and are powered by new 50-50 electric and biofuel engines.

Marshall was asked to detail the journey for McLaren up to this point, with the MCL40 now ready and partaking in track action.

“From a design point of view, it’s been massive,” he confirmed. “From a controls and engineering point of view, it’s massive.

“And now the journey for the drivers, obviously, they spent some time in the simulator, but now their journeys on how they get their head arounds these cars starts now, really.”

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