Mercedes maintained its sterling reliability at the start of 2026 F1 pre-season testing as George Russell clocked up the laps on a day when McLaren finally made its first appearance.
It was a day when several teams made an appearance, as the forecasted rain failed to materialise, although for Audi and Haas it did not go as planned.
Nico Hulkenberg had managed four laps in the Audi before encountering an apparent technical issue that has since consigned him to the garage, whilst Oliver Bearman also caused a brief interruption, but was back on track just before the lunch break.
After sitting out the first two days of the five-day private test at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya, all eyes were naturally on the McLaren garage to see if the MCL40 would make an appearance.
Finally, bearing the No.1 on his car, F1 champion Lando Norris took to the track to complete systems checks, clocking 34 laps, seemingly without any issues. The car is expected to run more productively over the final two days.
In terms of reliability, Mercedes again made a particular impression. George Russell had completed 92 laps by 1 pm local time. After the car completed 154 laps on Monday, between Russell and team-mate Kimi Antonelli, the Silver Arrows is currently amassing the data on its W17.
Russell also ended the morning session with the fastest lap, 1:17.580s, set late on. For some time, Alpine's Franco Colapinto had led the way with a 1:19.150s.
Racing Bulls has also been on track, with Arvid Lindblad behind the wheel. Red Bull opted to skip the test day after Isack Hadjar's crash, while Ferrari and Cadillac have not yet appeared. Aston Martin and Williams were already known not to be there on Wednesday.
View the all-new McLaren below!
Don't miss out on any of the Formula 1 action thanks to this handy 2026 F1 calendar that can be easily loaded into your smartphone or PC.
Download the calenderMost read
In this article
Join the conversation!