The McLaren team has also unveiled a one-off livery for the Barcelona shakedown, which will be used during the three days of running allocated to each team across the week.
Formula 1 defending world champions McLaren have drawn particular attention to the ongoing Barcelona shakedown by confirming that their car will be close to race specification. The team has also unveiled a one-off livery for the shakedown, which will be used during the three days of running allocated to each team across the week.
The Barcelona shakedown has begun a new technical era for F1 with a tightly controlled, behind-closed-doors test, as teams run their all-new cars for the first time with no fans, no live television coverage and no official lap times.
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The five-day session at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya began on Monday and marks the first on-track running under the new regulations. Mercedes, Alpine and Audi — appearing at their first official Formula 1 event since being rebranded from Sauber — were among the teams to take to the circuit on the opening day.
McLaren’s unchanged driver line-up of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will make their first on-track appearances of the 2026 season at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya between January 26 and 30, running the special livery during the test. The team has already indicated that it will not send its new challenger onto the circuit until the second or third day, a move designed to maximise development time before track action.
Other teams, including Red Bull, have so far revealed little more than new liveries on show cars, making the first meaningful running in Barcelona a crucial stage in their preparations. Ferrari has already given its 2026 car limited mileage under promotional event rules but is expected to introduce significant updates before the opening race in Australia in March.
Teams are permitted to run on three of the five days in Spain, allowing time to address early reliability issues without losing overall preparation time. With new engines, battery systems and lighter cars, avoiding technical problems is the primary focus at this stage.
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Cadillac is set to make its debut this year, forming an 11th team with two well-known Formula 1 names, Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas, reportedly set for a return to the grid. Only 10 teams are running in Barcelona after Williams encountered delays in preparing its car.
In stark contrast to last season’s high-profile launch in London, which drew 16,000 fans and numerous celebrities, the Barcelona running has been deliberately kept private. Aside from brief clips released by Formula 1’s own broadcaster, there will be no live coverage and no official lap times, making it difficult to judge early competitiveness. Attention is expected to shift to performance during the second pre-season test in Bahrain next month.
Formula 1 has rebranded the event from a “private test” to a “Barcelona Shakedown”, a label that reflects the emphasis on reliability rather than outright speed as teams debut entirely new designs.
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The scale of the regulatory overhaul has revived memories of 2014, when the introduction of turbo-hybrid engines led to widespread reliability problems during pre-season testing. While Formula 1 has evolved considerably since then, particularly with the growth of its global audience through Netflix’s Drive to Survive, ensuring cars simply run as intended remains the priority as the sport enters a new era.
(With AP inputs)
Published: 26 Jan 2026, 11:58 pm IST
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