Formula 1 began this Wednesday the third day of private testing in a highly guarded Barcelona-Catalunya Circuit to avoid undue leaks throughout the Shakedown Week that serves the teams to test the systems of the single-seaters under the revolutionary regulatory change of this 2026.In this context, the Argentine Franco Colapinto had contact with Lapista again and left with positive feelings.
After completing a full day on Monday, Alpine decided to save activities on Tuesday amid a rain forecast in Barcelona that only had Ferrari and Red Bull Racing on the track.On Wednesday the weather was good again and the Enstone team decided to cross out the second of the three days allowed to have action on the circuit.
Along with the debut of McLaren, Mercedes, Haas, Audi and Racing Bulls were also adding kilometers again.The 22-year-old Argentine runner was in charge of the first shift of the day and signed one of the most outstanding records.According to the specialized portal The Race, Franco set a time of 1:19.150 in his fastest lap, which left him as the second fastest lap of the morning behind George Russell (1:17:580).
It must be taken into account that these records are not official, due to Formula 1’s decision to maintain the privacy of the tests in order to allow the teams to carry out different tests.Even most of the teams are not behind the times, but the performance of the Alpine in these first actions is still positive without exposing notable problems in the operation of the systems beyond the small failure of a sensor on the first day that led to a red flag.
“Crossing off another productive morning for Franco Colapinto. 56 laps and some more valuable learnings to take to the remaining days,” the team reported after the close of the first shift, clarifying that the Argentine accumulated a total of 260 kilometers on the A526 in this second appearance.
On Monday, where he spent a full day at the helm, the Argentine completed 60 laps and added his first 279 kilometers in the new car.That debut had Colapinto as the third fastest behind Isack Hadjar’s Red Bull (1:18.159) and Russell’s Mercedes (1:18.696) with a time of 1:20:189.
In this context, the Argentine’s first contact with the car of the new regulations will end with a positive balance.On Wednesday afternoon in Barcelona, Pierre Gasly took his place on the A526 and it is expected that the Frenchman will be in full charge on the last day of activity that Alpine chooses (it can be Thursday or Friday), so Franco will only have another opportunity in the official preseason tests in Bahrain: from Wednesday 11 to Friday 13 February will be the first session (between 4 in the morning and 1:00 p.m. in Argentina) and the experience will be repeated again.February 18 to 20 at the same times.The detail is that the first week of testing, according to F1TV records, will only have a 1-hour transmission.For the moment, the second will be broadcast in its entirety.
Alpine had a favorable first balance with the former Williams in charge after two days where there was an accident by Hadjar with the Red Bull and also an exit from the track by Lewis Hamilton after the rain on Tuesday.
This Wednesday, champion Lando Norris added his first laps in the McLaren with a time almost two seconds slower than Russell in Mercedes in the morning shift.In any case, the Briton added the team’s first 33 laps officially.His standout time was 1:19.672, according to TheRace.
While the media Soy Motor assures that “Mercedes scares” due to its relentless performance, confirming the rumors of its engine development, the problems were in the Haas and Audi pits.Oliver Bearman stayed with the car, triggering a red flag, although he was later able to return to complete at least 21 laps.
However, Nico Hülkenberg only completed 5 laps with Audi.After the problems that Gabriel Bortoleto had on Monday, the German took command for the first time of the team that replaces Saubery and had to be assisted by the auxiliaries.“It stopped on the back straight, between turns 9 and 10,” expressed the Motorsport media about this event that occurred less than an hour after the activity began in Barcelona.
The problem is that Audi, which will have its own power units in this new era, had anticipated that it would use Tuesday to work on some problems that they became aware of on Monday after the RS26’s first track outing.”We detected a problem and decided to stop the car on the track as a precaution. Now we have identified the problem and we will solve it for the rest of the week,” a spokesperson for the brand new team had confirmed, according to Motorsport.
It must be taken into account that although there are five days available to have activity in Barcelona, teams can only go out on track three times.At the same time, one driver per team can race and that is why a full day of action is planned for each starter, with the remainder divided for both.
In this case, Wednesday’s late shift saw Gasly replace Colapinto at Alpine and also featured Andrea Kimi Antonelli appearing for Russell at Mercedes.At the same time, Bearman reportedly continued at Haas and Hulkenberg managed to reappear with Audi on the second shift after problems left him with almost no chance in the morning.Arvid Lindblad had a breakdown with the Racing Bulls at the start of the afternoon session and triggered another red flag.
With the absence of Williams announced days before, it only remains to know if Aston Martin will finally be able to have some kilometers of testing between Thursday and Friday. The team that will have Honda engines for this year announced that the “intention” was to appear in the last two enabled days.
News in development…
