The fifth and final day of the Barcelona Shakedown is now complete, bringing the five-day event at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya to a close. F1.com has rounded up everything you need to know about Friday’s running – from which teams were on track to what the drivers had to say – in our Day 5 debrief…
Which teams and drivers ran?
Amid a dry and sunny start in Barcelona, several cars emerged as the final session of the week got underway on Friday. Valtteri Bottas and Ollie Bearman were the first to emerge for Cadillac and Haas respectively, soon joined by Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and the Red Bull of Max Verstappen.
Charles Leclerc followed for Ferrari, as did Oscar Piastri in the McLaren and Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto. Fernando Alonso made his shakedown debut over at Aston Martin, the Spaniard giving the AMR26 some further mileage following its first appearance later on Thursday with Lance Stroll at the wheel.
Amid a busy morning on track, Bearman had recorded a particularly extensive lap count by lunchtime, while Piastri, Leclerc and Gasly also gained some significant mileage.
Some teams chose to swap drivers ahead of the afternoon session, with Lando Norris jumping into the McLaren, Lewis Hamilton taking over at Ferrari, Esteban Ocon returning to action in the Haas and Nico Hulkenberg completing Audi’s programme.
The action continued as Day 5 entered its final stages, with Hamilton, Ocon, Gasly (who amassed a particularly high lap count), Hulkenberg, Verstappen and Norris all lapping towards the end of the day, before the chequered flag brought Friday – and the shakedown – to a close.
Alonso made his debut appearance at the shakedown as he took Aston Martin’s 2026 challenger for some more laps of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
Did every team run?
Every team on the grid barring Williams participated in the Barcelona Shakedown, though the Grove-based outfit confirmed in an update issued this week that they will be ready to take part in official pre-season testing in Bahrain.
With each team permitted to run on three days in Barcelona, Mercedes and Racing Bulls completed their programmes during Day 4, having each used their allocated time on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Most of the field spread their three days out across the week before wrapping up on Day 5. Aston Martin were a slight exception, however, with the British outfit running on only two days after making their track debut on Thursday.
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What have the drivers said?
After a short run on Thursday, Piastri was satisfied with a “successful” morning in the McLaren during Friday, with the Australian commenting later on: “It was good. Nice to get some good laps on the board this morning – a much smoother day than the first two we’ve had, so that was nice.
“I feel like I got into a pretty good rhythm, was able to start to feel what the car is actually like, which was nice. I tried a few things already to see how we can improve it and stuff like that, but just trying running it in different figurations and different settings and stuff like that to see what it’s like for race weekends. All in all I think it was a pretty successful morning.”
Looking ahead to what the next few weeks hold – with the MCL40 next set to hit the track during pre-season testing in Bahrain – Piastri added: “We’ve prepared well already for running here, so there’s not been too many major surprises in terms of how I’ve got to drive or how the power unit works and stuff like that.
“Definitely just making sure that it works as we expected is the biggest thing, but I feel like we’d already done a lot of preparation going into this week and I’m sure we’ll review some of the things that worked as we expected, some that didn’t, and there’s some that need to change.”
Having taken over driving duties during the afternoon, Norris also gave his take on how McLaren’s shakedown had gone, the Briton stating that he was “reasonably” happy with what the team were able to gather across the week.
“It’s so easy to get caught up into comparisons, just because we’re all competitive so you always want to see yourself doing well and feeling like you can be quick,” Norris smiled. “But I think we understood a lot, both in lower-fuel stuff, higher-fuel stuff, the tyres.
“Just what we came here to do really, (which) is to understand the car, especially from a reliability point of view – make sure that all the sensors are working as they should, the PU’s working as it should, the gearbox, whatever it is.
“(Making sure) everything is just doing what we expect, because reliability is one of the most important things, so a lot of it’s from that side, and a lot of it is stuff over the next few days and weeks the team will look into and try to improve on and make better. And from my side, just to get back comfy with the car, some little bits I need to change here and there, but otherwise it still feels like a race car, still feels fast and still enjoyable.”
Over at Ferrari, Leclerc said of his morning in the SF-26: “It was good again. We went through our programme, we did everything we wanted to do. We pushed a little bit more as well, which was nice to feel a little bit the limit of this car and to understand a little bit more of it as well. I’m happy because again we’ve gone through our programme and done everything we wanted.”
Following a busy week at the shakedown, the Monegasque admitted that there is “a lot of excitement, not only in Ferrari but I think around the whole paddock”.
“It’s an exciting time for Formula 1, where there’s so much change that we’ve got to adapt as drivers, we’ve got to adapt as teams and try and find ways to maximise what is now our new package, and especially with this energy management that is so much more important compared to the past,” Leclerc explained.
“So yeah, excitement, but apart from that not so much more. It’s still very, very early days, so just really looking forward to what we’ll learn in Bahrain and then just focus on ourselves for now.”
On the other side of the garage, Hamilton reflected positively on his experiences at the Barcelona Shakedown, the seven-time World Champion saying: “It’s been a really enjoyable week, honestly. I think a huge amount of work over the winter, on my personal side, but what the team have done over the winter to make changes going into the test.
“To see the mileage that we’ve been able to get the last couple of days due to just so much great work from all the people back at the factory, which I’m really grateful for because having consistency, not having problems… Of course there’s always small things, but we didn’t really have any downtime moments – I’m sure they could potentially come over the next weeks – but otherwise just a really, really solid couple of days.
“In terms of just understanding the car and the balance, we have a lot less downforce than previous years. The car generation is actually a little bit more fun to drive – it’s oversteery, it’s snappy and sliding, but it’s a little bit easier to catch and I would definitely say more enjoyable.
“But we definitely have work to do to improve, of course, like everybody does, but I think we’ve had great debriefs, everyone’s really on it – I really feel the winning mentality in every single person in the team more than ever, so it’s a positive.”
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Verstappen wrapped up Red Bull’s running with some solid mileage on Day 5 – having last been behind the wheel during the wet conditions on Tuesday morning – and the Dutchman labelled the shakedown as “overall pretty decent”.
“The first morning I didn’t get to do too many laps with the weather basically, but today was good,” said Verstappen. “I did a lot of laps, we learned a lot. Still a lot of things that we want to look into and do better, but that’s normal I guess.
“In general for us with the new engine, to do the amount of laps that we did is very nice and it’s a good start for us. So, yeah, positive, but it’s still very early days.”
When asked about the key takeaways on the engine side, the four-time World Champion answered: “Still a work in progress, but I think we’ve hit the ground running quite well with those things. It’s still a very complicated formula I think for everyone, so there’s still quite a bit of work to do, but it’s normal.”
In terms of mileage, Bearman was pleased with his particularly high lap count during Friday’s morning session. Comparing to his previous run on Wednesday, the Briton said: “We did more than double the mileage in half the time, so that’s positive.
“No issues on the car – we had these issues obviously on Wednesday. At the end they weren’t big problems and they were all ones that we could understand and just took a while to fix. Luckily we were able to get back in the car today and have a very clean programme. I learned a hell of a lot about the car today.”
Reflecting on how much he is enjoying the challenge of adapting to the 2026 car, Bearman admitted that it is “so nice to be involved” in the change, adding: “To be at the front of that, alongside Esteban, leading the way in terms of how we’re going to develop the car, how we’re going to change things – I’ve never had that opportunity before.”
Having experienced his first run of the shakedown on Friday, Alonso admitted that he was “excited to be back in the car” as he got behind the wheel of Aston Martin’s new challenger, the Spaniard reflecting: “For us it was really the very first days, so I think we had a positive one, 60+ laps and the car is responding well. First day, and more to come.”
Alonso conceded that it was a notable moment when the car hit the track for its early mileage, with the two-time World Champion explaining: “It was very special, yesterday with Lance and today with me in the car – the first car made by Adrian (Newey) and together with Honda and Aramco and these new rules.
“And especially the last two weeks has been very, very intense, the factory trying to have the car ready and we just made it to Barcelona in the last two days. A tremendous effort from everyone – I think it was phenomenal, the last 48 hours, and thanks to everyone in the team here, at the factory, and looking forward to Bahrain now.”
Over at Audi, Bortoleto labelled his Day 5 run in the R26 as “positive”, with the Brazilian explaining: “We lost a few hours at the beginning of the day with a few issues we had, but then as soon as we fixed it we had an amount of good laps, like we put 50 laps on the board.
“Not as much as I would like, but already a start for me because on the first day I didn’t run anything. But yeah, very positive to get to understand a little bit better our car and put some mileage on our car and power unit.”
Following the completion of their programme, Bortoleto gave his assessment of the mood within the team, commenting: “The shakedown is literally just to put the car on track and test if everything is running. Obviously we expect all these issues, small issues that we had here and there because that’s what the shakedown is for.
“I’m happy, the team is happy that we have managed to do some laps in the morning, and hopefully this afternoon with Nico he managed to put some mileage on the car and improve a few topics that are ongoing right now, and we’re going in the right direction.”
Hulkenberg – who labelled the shakedown as a “positive week” for Audi – also gave an upbeat assessment of his time in the car on Friday, the German reporting: “I think it was certainly one of our better days or best day here this week – more than 140 laps, good mileage for the car and for all the components.
“And on the PU side it’s important for us to get that sort of mileage – many lessons there again that we’ll analyse now and reflect, so a lot of info to digest next week and reflect on, and obviously regroup and go again in Bahrain.”
As for Cadillac, Bottas acknowledged that it had been a milestone week for the new squad. The Finn smiled: “It’s great, but it is the problem-solving phase of the team. It’s the first time we’re properly running the car, so it’s been really valuable, a really important week, but really a milestone.”
Bottas went on to speak of his pride at the work put in by the American outfit to be at the event, but also conceded that Cadillac “still have a long way to go”.
“We still have lots of problems to solve, and a bit of a mountain to climb, but we are getting there step by step,” the 10-time race continued. “Each run we’re getting better and more together as a team. Each run we are solving issues and going forward, so that’s good.”
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What’s next?
With the Barcelona Shakedown now complete, for some teams the next item on the agenda will be their launches; Mercedes and Williams will hold their events on February 2 and 3 respectively, while Cadillac are set to unveil their livery on February 8 before McLaren and Aston Martin both launch on February 9.
After that, all 11 outfits will be focused on official pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit. The first test takes place from February 11-13, and a second follows between February 18-20.
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