Lewis Hamiltonachieved the quickest lap on the last day of Formula 1’s 2026 test session in Barcelona, whileMercedescarried out the highest distance throughout the week.
The Ferraridriver finished an unofficial time of 1 minute 16.348 seconds at the end of day five at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, surpassing his former Mercedes teammateGeorge Russell off top spot.
Only describable as a ‘glory run’ for Hamilton, he achieved it after a last-minute change to soft tires on Friday, building on a strong morning performance from his teammate.Charles Leclerc.
The Monaco native led the unofficial morning time chart with a 1m16.653s, 0.793s faster than the second-place finisherOscar Piastri, featuring 78 laps in contrast to theMcLaren’s 80.
That definitely represented a significant improvement for Piastri, who had his Thursday cut short due to a fuel problem, making him much more optimistic following his Friday session.
It was good,” mentioned the McLaren driver, who secured third place in the 2025 rankings. “It’s great to have some solid laps under our belt this morning; today was much smoother compared to the first two days, which was nice. I found a good rhythm and started to get a better sense of what the car is actually like, which was pleasant.
His teammate and current world championLando NorrisStrongly followed up in the chilly afternoon with the fastest lap time, 1 minute 16.594 seconds, until Hamilton overtook him at the last moment.
However, the purpose of the shakedown was not necessarily to achieve the fastest lap, but to accumulate the highest mileage in preparation for the power units ahead of the official pre-season tests, along with the 24-race calendar.
The distinction belonged to Mercedes, the front-runner for both the constructor’s and driver’s championships this season, as it completed more than 500 laps during its allowed three days of testing on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
Andrea Kimi Antonellieven finished a complete race simulation on the second day for Mercedes, while Thursday saw Russell record an unofficial 1m16.4s which at one point seemed unbeatable.
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A major factor in its success has been the power unit, regarded as the top in F1, which, across the factory team and its client teams, completed the highest number of laps compared to other engine providers.
Between Mercedes, McLaren and Alpine– the fourth client of the German brandWilliamswas missing because of production issues – the engine is believed to have finished approximately 1000 laps.
The Ferrari engine accumulated the second highest mileage, with the Red Bull Ford Powertrain coming in third after its primary team returned on Friday withMax Verstappen behind the wheel.
The four-time world champion set out in the morning, finishing 69 laps with a top time of 1m18.285s, marking the first appearance of Red Bull since Tuesday due toIsack Hadjar’s crash.
Others who have competed on Friday include Haas,Audi, Cadillac and Aston Martin, the latter of which participated only in the last two days of this week’s shakedown but generated attention with its distinctive sidepod and engine cover design under the direction of Adrian Newey.
Although Lance Strollonly completed five laps on Thursday which led to a late red flag, teammateFernando Alonsohad a more comfortable journey on Friday after finishing at least 49 trips.
However, the day proceeded much more smoothly than other days this week, with no red flags occurring, in advance of F1’s next group on-track test in Bahrain on February 11-13.
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