Russell ‘very pleased’ with more nimble Mercedes but praises Red Bull's start

George Russell says Mercedes was very pleased with its opening day at the Barcelona shakedown but praised Red Bull’s running with a new power unit to start the 2026 Formula 1 season.

All-new power unit and aerodynamic regulations introduced this year meant teams agreed to a five-day private event in Spain before the two pre-season tests in Bahrain, and Mercedes managed over 150 laps across both Russell and Kimi Antonelli during the first day of running on Monday. However, Red Bull also exceeded 100 laps and topped the unofficial times with Isack Hadjar, and Russell said the reliable start from a new manufacturer caught his eye.

“For sure we're very pleased with the day, but I was pretty impressed with a number of other teams to be honest,” Russell said. “You see the Red Bull-powered teams, a brand new power unit... they're like a brand new team from a power unit side, and they've had a really smooth day with two cars.

“Audi had some good laps in there as well, and I think Haas did the most laps of everyone with a Ferrari engine. So it's not quite 2014 vibes of half the grid is breaking down and having loads of issues.

“I think Formula 1’s evolved so much since then, and the level is just so high from every single aspect. It was pretty impressive to see all the teams on the whole having a lot of laps under their belt on day one.”

According to Russell, the new cars are a step in the right direction from a size and weight perspective, as he starts to get used to the challenge of driving the new cars with multiple different energy deployment options.

“It's amazing just to be back out driving again," he said. "I think at the end of the year everyone's looking forward to a break, but then after a week or two you're raring to go again. And then there's obviously a lot of anticipation for these new power units, and so far I think just generally the whole the amount of power they give is pretty impressive.

“For all the cars I was watching today – with all the different power units – it was probably the quickest I've ever seen an F1 car pass here in Barcelona. So that was pretty exciting to see, and the cars do generally… you feel it being smaller, you can feel that weight reduction compared to previous years. So I think from that aspect as well, it's gone in a good direction.

“It is very different to be honest, but once you wrap your head around it it then feels quite intuitive. So I think from the fans' perspective there's definitely an opportunity to see more exciting racing, and I don't think you potentially will see some of the negatives that we may feel from the car in terms of the recharge. But of course that's going to evolve so much over time.

“So I think all in all it's been an exciting day, and as I said, really glad and happy the cars are smaller now, because even though I was such a fan when we went to the big cars in 2017 visually, having driven them now for a few years I think they were too big and now they just look cool.”

Hadjar was similarly buoyed by Red Bull’s opening day on track, having completed 107 laps, coupled with a further 88 for Liam Lawson in the Racing Bulls car.

“It was pretty productive,” Hadjar said. “Surprisingly, we managed to do a lot more laps than we expected. Everything went pretty smooth. We had only minor issues, so it's quite impressive considering it's first day with our own engine, so it was definitely smooth.

“It's definitely a lot less load in general – [the car is] a bit more predictable compared to the previous generation of cars. They are more simple. It's easier to play around with them. Also, on the PU side, there's a lot more options for the driver to play with, so I already started to work on it today, so that was very interesting.”