Mercedes Dominates F1 Shakedown; Aston Martin, McLaren Face Hurdles

As the dust settled on Day 4 of the Barcelona Formula 1 shakedown, one clear picture emerged: Mercedes is running like a well-oiled machine, leaving rivals scrambling to catch up. Fresh from turning over 90 laps apiece on Wednesday, Andrea Kimi Antonelli and George Russell traded turns again on Thursday, combining long runs and shorter outings to work on various power unit modes. Russell was unofficially fastest with a 1m16.6s, but rather than focusing on lap times, the priority in Barcelona has been gathering data and mileage, an area where Mercedes has been undeniably strong.

Image: Mercedes AMG

Mercedes has now completed its three test days allowed in Barcelona, heading home with the highest lap count among all teams with the W17, which has run reliably throughout. “We go [to Bahrain testing] with high confidence and high hopes because, definitely, it's been good,” said Antonelli. “Obviously, we had our issues during the shakedown, but we were able to fix them and now we can be sure that in Bahrain we can more or less hit the ground running there as well.”

On the other side of the spectrum, Aston Martin finally appeared on track in the latter stages of Day 4, after flying the car to Barcelona on Wednesday. In the hands of Lance Stroll, the unpainted, Adrian Newey-designed AMR26 turned just five laps in the final hour, showing what appeared to be a unique sidepod and engine cover design. Stroll caused a late red flag by grinding to a halt minutes before the session ended. Fernando Alonso is expected to take over on Friday’s fifth and final day of shakedown.

Image: McLaren

McLaren also faced hurdles. After Lando Norris ran on the previous day, Oscar Piastri took over the MCL40, completing 48 laps before a fuel system issue sidelined the car for the afternoon. “It was nice to be back out today, especially in the new car," Piastri said. "There’s a lot of challenges this year up and down the grid, so it was good to get stuck in. We had a fuel system issue, which cut our day short, but the team’s working hard to get that fixed and back out tomorrow.” Technical director Mark Temple added, "The car is very complex, so we decided to bring the car back into the garage and strip it down to fully understand where the problem is coming from, ahead of tomorrow’s running."

Elsewhere, Lewis Hamilton enjoyed a productive outing for Ferrari. After a wet Tuesday, the seven-time champion relished dry conditions, completing 85 laps in the SF-26. Despite an early spin out of Turn 11 on cold tires, Hamilton described the experience as “amazing,” a positive sign for the Scuderia. Meanwhile, the Racing Bulls VCARB 03 wrapped up its three-day allowance with Liam Lawson behind the wheel, while teams like Alpine, Audi, Haas, and Red Bull sat out Thursday. Red Bull reportedly flew in spare parts from Milton Keynes to repair damage from Isack Hadjar's crash earlier in the week. All teams will be eager for a clean run on the final day before attention shifts to Bahrain.