Red Bull make striking decision for first 2026 F1 test

Red Bull has selected 18 sets of the C3 soft compound tyre for the upcoming first pre-season test in Barcelona, as confirmed by Pirelli.

Ahead of next week’s five-day official shakedown test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Pirelli revealed that the C1 (Hard), C2 (Medium), C3 (Soft), Intermediate, and Wet compounds will be available.

Upon revealing the compounds on offer to the teams in Spain, F1’s tyre supplier confirmed how many of each set every team had selected. As first reported by RacingNews365, Williams will miss the test following issues passing the FIA’s mandatory crash tests.

The Grove-based outfit released a statement on Friday afternoon confirming it would be absent from Barcelona to continue focusing on preparing its 2026 F1 car.

Across the five-day test, the teams present are permitted to run for three days, with McLaren and Ferrari both having revealed they will not start running on the first day.

Being the first real running of the cars, each team has its own programme in mind, resulting in huge differences in how many sets of each compound the teams have taken.

As mentioned, Red Bull has remarkably opted for 18 sets of soft tyres, one set of mediums, and no hard tyres. Barcelona will see the RB22 on track for the first time, with no shakedown having been conducted ahead of the test — a strategy also taken by McLaren.

For Barcelona, McLaren has selected four sets of C1 tyres, 10 sets of C2 tyres, and six sets of C3 tyres. Mercedes has selected the most hard tyres in the paddock for Barcelona, opting for eight sets.

Ferrari, which unveiled the SF-26 on Friday before undergoing an initial shakedown, has selected the most C2 tyres, with the Scuderia to receive 12 sets, while no team has opted for more soft tyres than Red Bull.

See how many sets of each tyre compound the teams have selected below!