McLaren won’t run 2026 car on first day of Barcelona test

McLaren will be one of the teams that does not run on the opening day of the Formula 1 shakedown test in Barcelona, as it balances ambition with caution when it comes to its 2026 car.

The pre-season shakedown in Spain will allow teams to run on any three out of five days, with the track available for the entirety of next week from Jan. 26-30. Team principal Andrea Stella says the first time the MCL40 runs will be at that test, but that the team was never targeting being ready on the first day the track is open.

“The season is fully on [already],” Stella said, “even if there's not much action on track. There's been so much work behind the design, the realization, the build of the 2026 cars, that for what I can remember, is almost unprecedented.

“Not only in terms of the changes themselves – because I think never before has there been such a huge and simultaneous change of chassis, power unit and tires – but the sheer volume of redesigning that went through the last 20 months at McLaren has been probably the biggest design, or in general, dealing with a new car project that I was a part of.

“This all makes it extremely interesting to see how the cars will perform, how the competitiveness order will be mixed up. We are champions, but we don't carry being champions into 2026. Everyone will start from the starting blocks. Everyone will start from zero.

“Our internal narrative is anything we will achieve, we will have to deserve it. And we will have to earn it on the ground. So that's our mind, that's our philosophy.

“This is why we've been ambitious with the 2026 car. At the same time, because it's such a level of redesign, you also have to be cautious to make sure that you actually have a car, that you realize it in time, that you build it in time. And so far, I have to say that our program is going on plan. Something, obviously, we are happy with, and it gives me the chance to thank the entire team for having been able to realize the 2026 car.

“The car is now in AVL [simulation center] in Austria to run at the dyno – I think this is common practice now in Formula 1 – such that you can sign off some fundamental systems of the car. Much more than what you can do when you run some of these subsystems, like the gearbox in a gearbox rig and dyno that we may have here [at McLaren Technology Centre]. It's [AVL] a facility that we have been using for some time. Then the car will be in Barcelona for the shakedown on track. This will happen directly at the test.

“We plan to start testing either on day two or day three. We wanted to give ourselves as much time as possible for development … we will start from either day two or day three and we will test for three days.”

Chief designer Rob Marshall says the MCL40 that will run in Barcelona will also be similar to the actual car that races in the season opener in Melbourne, given the focus on trying to understand how the new cars behave.

“Between Barcelona and Melbourne, I think what you see is probably pretty much what we will bring to the first race,” Marshall said. “A lot of our effort will be into understanding this. Also, we need to take into account what the opposition are up to. We need to be inspired by what they may or may not achieve and may or may not show us.

“We really are going to have to be very focused on getting our heads around this car. It's very complicated. It's all new. There's a lot of stuff that we need to dial in and tune in. So I think bringing a lot of new stuff to it, early doors, would complicate stuff. I think we're better off understanding our platform before we get too keen on redesigning it before it's turned a wheel.”