Mercedes stays ahead, Aston struggles on fourth day of Barcelona F1 shakedown

Mercedes wrapped up its track time in Barcelona with another strong day in terms of both performance and reliability, setting the fastest two times once again.

Just as it had done on Wednesday, Mercedes – completing the third of its permitted three days of running – split running between its two drivers and ended the day with both at the top of the unofficial timing screens. George Russell became the first driver to go under the 1m17s mark in pre-season, posting a 1m16.445s as he completed 78 laps during the afternoon, following Kimi Antonelli’s 90 laps – and best time of 1m17.081s – in the morning.

“From a reliability perspective, it’s been a good week for us,” trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin said. “The car has enabled us to run the program exactly as we wanted each of the three days and that’s what we hoped for coming here to Barcelona.

“It is a huge testament to the hard work of everyone at Brackley and Brixworth in bringing this car to life. We’ve also made good progress with some of the challenges we saw on days one and two and that is pleasing.

“That said, in Barcelona we have only really been focused on proving out the W17. In Bahrain, we will switch to setup exploration, which you can’t do here when it is so cold. That will give us a much better idea of the car’s relative abilities as we progress towards the 2026 season.”

Antonelli’s 90 laps were the most by a single driver, but the lowest total went to Aston Martin on a tough first day for the team at the shakedown. Having arrived late to Barcelona with its 2026 car, the all-black AMR26 appeared in the closing stages of the day but Lance Stroll only managed to complete five laps before stopping on track.

Even in that short space of time the car turned heads, with the aggressive undercut to the sidepods – which feature a narrow upper intake – particularly noticeable on Adrian Newey’s first design for the team.

There was more mileage for Ferrari, one what was a second day on track at the shakedown as both drivers combined for the overall highest mileage for a team. Charles Leclerc’s 85 laps – and the third-fastest time of 1m18.223s – adding onto the 89 laps from Lewis Hamilton earlier in the day.

Hamilton posted a 1m18.654s as Ferrari completed 174 laps to Mercedes’ 168 on Thursday, although the seven-time world champion started his day with a low-speed spin in the final sector.

McLaren’s second day of running was less productive, as Oscar Piastri took over from Lando Norris but completed just 48 laps during the morning session. Once again, the immediate relative pace seemed solid with a 1m18.419s leaving Piastri fourth overall, but a fuel system issue then confined the MCL40 to the garage for the rest of the day.

The Racing Bulls pair of Arvid Lindblad (1m18.451s, 47 laps) and Liam Lawson (1m18.840s, 64 laps) completed their team’s running on Thursday, while there was a second outing for Cadillac with Sergio Perez completing 66 laps. As the new team gets to grips with its first car, Perez posted a 1m21.349s.

With Mercedes and Racing Bulls having used all three of their days, and Williams not taking part in the test, eight teams will look to complete their programs on Friday. McLaren, Red Bull, Ferrari, Aston Martin, Haas, Alpine, Audi and Cadillac all aim to get back out on track, with Red Bull attempting to bring spare parts in time to run following Isack Hadjar’s crash in the wet on Tuesday.

Unofficial times:

George Russell (Mercedes) - 1m16.445, 78 laps

Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) - 1m17.081s, 90 laps

Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) - 1m18.223s, 85 laps

Oscar Piastri (McLaren) - 1m18.419s, 48 laps

Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) - 1m18.451s, 47 laps

Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) - 1m18.654s, 89 laps

Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) - 1m18.840s, 64 laps

Sergio Perez (Cadillac) - 1m21.349s, 66 laps

Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) - 1m46.404s, 5 laps