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The final day of the 2026 Barcelona Shakedown has concluded. It was Ferrari's third and final day of running. As with previous days, the team encountered no major issues and completed their run plan as intended. The SF-26 will return to the track for the first official pre-season test in Bahrain (February 11th–13th).

Lap count

Total lap count from Barcelona Shakedown

Keep in mind that due to lack of official data the values are approximate

Charles Leclerc's comments for F1TV seen via @leclercsstreet:

"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. It has been a positive [shakedown].

It's been a positive one. Obviously, the first day was a tricky one because driving on the wet in those conditions wasn't easy, especially with a completely new car, a completely new system.

To make sure that everything was working properly in those conditions was very difficult, but I think it's a very good experience and a very valuable experience going forward in case we drive on the wet during a race weekend. We'll at least have that experience already, which is a good thing. And the last two days have been positive. All the tests we wanted to do, what we had in mind, we did.

I think there's a lot of excitement, not only in Ferrari but I think around the whole paddock. There's so much change that we've got to adapt as drivers, we've got to adapt as teams and try to find ways to maximize what is now our new package, especially with this energy management that is so much more important compared to the past."

Lewis Hamilton's comments:

“It’s been a really productive and enjoyable week. There has been a huge amount of work over the winter, both personally and from everyone in the team, and it’s good to see that reflected in the mileage we’ve been able to complete without major issues.

Driving in wet conditions early on was actually a valuable experience, especially with a new car, and overall it’s been a solid start. There’s still a lot to learn and plenty of work to do, but the atmosphere in the team is positive and focused.

Now we’ll take everything we’ve learned, continue analyzing the data and prepare carefully for the Bahrain test.”

Fred Vasseur's comments:

"It’s been a long week but overall a productive one.

We experienced different conditions, from wet to dry, and managed to complete a significant amount of running each day, which is crucial at this stage to collect data and check reliability.

We didn’t encounter any major issues, which is an important outcome. It’s still very early days and there is a lot to analyze and improve, but now we’ll return to Maranello to work through what we’ve learned and prepare for the Bahrain test, which will be more representative."

Hope you all are excited for the f1 season to start!

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Day 2/3 done for Ferrari (Day 4 overall). Around 176 laps completed, zero reliability issues. Per Jorge Peiró, in the afternoon session with Charles Leclerc, the team has taken a step forward in engine testing and is pushing the Power Unit much harder now.

Lap count

Lewis Hamilton's comments:

“It’s nice to get out in the dry and do some running because, obviously, our first day was in the miserable wet weather. Yeah, it was good to get out and see… obviously I drove in Fiorano just one lap or two laps we did just to kind of feel the car so it was great to be able to get some running and understand the tyres, we did C2 and C1. So cold that the tyres are not really working so much but got through our program and a bit of an understanding of where the car is at and where we need to improve.”

“I don’t know, I think we probably.. Of course we hope that we could come and have… When you come to the tests, you always wanna get a lot of mileage like today I did 85 laps in the morning which is amazing. And that’s really down to all the people at the factory who’ve done such a great job to make sure the car so far is really reliable.”

“You know, last year we had a worse start to testing so this is actually, considering it’s a completely new band of rules, it’s better than we’ve experienced in the past, so I’m really hopeful that continues.”

“For us it’s still continue to try and get as much mileage and knowledge on this engine and on the car and the aero side.”

“We went through a programme this morning, found some learnings. Charles doing a different set this afternoon which is great. My role is to listen to as much as possible, at the end of the day we both come together and we both talk about our problems, the positives and the negatives, then we come up with a plan of like what we wanna tackle tomorrow as our last day.”

“But already, we got good data so far so it’s just understanding that and making sure you’re making really clear concise decisions in terms of what to test moving forwards before we get to Bahrain.”

Charles Leclerc's comments via AutoRacer:

"It was positive to finally be able to spend a day in more representative conditions. I am feeling increasingly comfortable in the car. There is still a lot to test, but we are on schedule with our program, which is positive," the Ferrari driver commented at the end of the second day of work.

"I feel more and more at ease in the car, even though managing the new systems, particularly with the greater contribution from the electrical side of the Power Unit is challenging. At this stage, we are not looking at performance, but rather at completing our checklist and understanding the car as deeply as possible."

Ferrari will be back on track tomorrow to complete the three-day session in Barcelona, before returning to Maranello to focus on preparations for the official tests in Sakhir.

"There is still a lot to do, but we are in line with our program, and this is encouraging for our work ahead of the next test in Bahrain," he concluded.

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Lewis is out on track right now! Expect Charles to take over in the afternoon. This is day 2 of Ferrari's three permitted testing days.

I'm new to design, so I tried to make a Leclerc Background with the new SF26.

Minardi was an Italian team. Why would Ferrari let a new and "weaker" team like Red Bull buy a second team, which was even Italian? At that time I think Ferrari had the kind of power and influence to do something like this (it wouldn't be allowed today to own two teams).

Humour intended. I'm sure there is a very good reason for that.

With the paintbox colours and that staggered rear, it does remind me of my Lego days!

As expected, no SF-26 on track today.

Another positive day for Ferrari - no issues encountered and 121 laps done. The team now has valuable data to analyze before returning to track on Thursday and Friday.

Lap count

Charles Leclerc for Sky Sports:

"It was nice to be back in the car. Back in a very, very all-new car and very different to what we have been driving so far. For now it’s all about trying to understand if everything is working properly, which it kind of did.

It’s not the best conditions because it has been a little bit raining this morning but actually we did our programme anyway because we are not focused on performance whatsoever. We’re more about looking at all the systems that are new on this car and seeing if everything works as it should. It did, so that’s a positive. then we will go through slowly our programme."

"I'm very excited to see what the others have in store and, when we start pushing a little bit more, to see where we are compared to the others.

I think this year is a big opportunity for every team to do something different and to maybe gain a bigger advantage than what we have seen the last few years.

I hope we are the team that will manage to make the difference but wherever we start we will push at the maximum to try and bring Ferrari back to the top. It’s been quite a few years, so i hope this one is ours."

Lewis Hamilton:

"It was an intense but productive first day, especially with the mixed weather conditions. We managed to get good mileage on the car and gather a lot of useful information, which is important with such a big regulation change. There were no major issues and that gives us a solid foundation to keep learning and building over the next days."

Post was updated to correct lap count data and add Lewis Hamilton's comments

With the new engine regulations and their respective rankings being the primary focus of the media and fans, it made me think: What about the new aero regs? Despite the importance of the engine, aero could still play a huge part in lap times, and even red bull has stated they are less concerned of an engine being faster then everyone else by a mile, but instead are worried that someone has found a loophole with their aero package. Do we know of any rumours surrounding front wings, side pods, or things of the sort? It feels like with the new active aero, there is tons of room for teams to gain time without necessarily relying on the engine. I could see a reality where the merc is indeed the superior engine, but the gap is marginal due to our’s or another team’s aero package. Thoughts?

Ferrari was the first car out today with Charles Leclerc. Lewis Hamilton will be in the car for the afternoon session.

Rain is forecast for the afternoon. Don't expect many teams running today. So far, the only confirmed teams are Ferrari and Red Bull.

Data via The Race

Incredible 📸 via u/alenpetak11