Red Bull released images, video, and renders of its 2026-spec RB22 on the opening day of pre-season testing in Barcelona. The team had earlier unveiled a showcar and livery at an event in Detroit, but withheld detailed angles until on-track sessions began.

The RB22 is presented as an integrated package for the 2026 regulations: it follows the new chassis rules, uses active aerodynamics, and is designed around an approximately 50:50 split between combustion and electric energy. Power comes from the DM01 power unit, the first in-house engine developed with Ford and named after the team’s late co‑founder, Dietrich Mateschitz. Sister team Racing Bulls has already run its VCARB03 chassis with the DM01, giving Red Bull an early data point.

Driving duties are shared by four-time champion Max Verstappen and rookie Isack Hadjar; both debuted new helmet designs and Sparco race suits for the launch. Verstappen told Team Redline’s Twitch stream he felt “pretty chilled” and was relaxed about the car’s competitiveness. The Barcelona test runs for five days, and teams are limited to a maximum of three running days. Red Bull chose to run from day one, matching Audi’s approach while other teams expected to start later. With early on-track mileage constrained, Red Bull is positioning the RB22 and DM01 as a combined statement of its technical direction for 2026, with detailed performance assessment pending the forthcoming track data.

Former world champion Damon Hill said Adrian Newey’s move to Aston Martin could spark a Brawn GP–style upset when F1’s new 2026 regulations take effect at the season opener in Melbourne in March. Newey joined Aston Martin on March 1, 2025, and has since been involved in the team’s 2026 project. Hill called the scenario plausible, but not certain.

He contrasted that potential with Aston Martin’s recent slide: the team finished seventh in the 2025 Constructors’ standings and had not won since the 2023 São Paulo Grand Prix. Hill cited Jenson Button’s 2009 title with Brawn GP as a precedent for how a rules reset can reorder the pecking order.

Newey produced the AMR26 as his first car for Aston Martin and brings a record that includes more than 200 race wins and a combined 26 drivers’ and constructors’ championships. At the 2025 Monaco Grand Prix, Newey publicly identified weaknesses in the team’s driver-in-the-loop simulator; afterward, Aston Martin hired Giles Wood as simulation and vehicle modeling director and engaged former Ferrari simulation lead Marco Fainello as a consultant to strengthen that capability.

Separately, Honda revealed its 2026 power unit in Tokyo and has signaled a full works return, although Honda president Koji Watanabe acknowledged development problems, saying “not everything is going well.”

Reporters and Hill framed the comparison as a realistic possibility rather than a prediction. Newey’s expertise, the simulation hires, and the wholesale technical reset create pathways for rapid improvement, but actual competitiveness will be proven on track. With the F1 rule change coming into force in March and Honda’s package still carrying uncertainty, any Aston Martin resurgence remains contingent on preseason and race-day performance rather than confirmed by the off-season narrative.

Pirelli has confirmed tire compound allocations for the upcoming five-day pre-season shakedown at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Teams may run on only three of the five days. Available rubber includes three slick compounds, including C1 (hard), C2 (medium), and C3 (soft), plus intermediates and full wets. Pirelli described the week as a tire-focused preparation rather than a full aerodynamic programme.

Cadillac will make its first on-track outing in a championship environment during the Barcelona shakedown. Williams withdrew after significant FW48 assembly delays, leaving one team absent from the private running.

Team allocations reveal contrasting test priorities. Red Bull took 18 sets of C3 softs, only one set of C2 mediums, and no C1 hards, signalling a short-run, peak-performance focus. Mercedes brought a paddock-high eight sets of C1 hards, requested 12 C3s (per reports), and skipped C2s, indicating emphasis on long runs with some short-run work. Ferrari prioritized medium-run data with 12 C2s and just three C3s. Both Ferrari and McLaren will skip the shakedown’s opening day. Other notes from the build-up to the Shakedown include Williams reportedly ordering 17 C3s before withdrawing, Haas requesting the most intermediates (six), and Audi securing the most wets (three). An unnamed reference to the reigning world champions recorded a balanced split of four hards, ten mediums, and six softs.

With teams limited to three running days, these inventory choices will tightly shape the data each squad can gather in Barcelona and help set the early direction of their 2026 programmes: heavy soft allocations point to qualifying-style exploration, while larger hard inventories indicate priorities around extended running and race simulation.

Haas completed the maiden laps of the VF-26 at Ferrari’s Fiorano test circuit, with junior Oliver Bearman driving and teammate Esteban Ocon observing. The run produced the first on-track images after the car’s online launch earlier this week, including a photo captioned ‘The VF-26 is alive’ showing Bearman leaving a Shell-branded garage on Pirelli intermediate (demonstration) tyres. The VF-26 carried prominent Toyota Gazoo Racing branding during the outing.

Haas described the activity as a shakedown to collect vital data and perform systems checks ahead of the official Barcelona pre-season test, scheduled for January 26–30. The team did not clarify whether the Fiorano running fell under a filming-day allowance (which permits up to 200 km) or a shorter demonstration run (up to 15 km), leaving some procedural details unspecified.

Team principal Ayao Komatsu said Haas will bring a different specification to Barcelona than the car it plans to race in Australia. He stressed that the team is on an aggressive development program to adapt to 2026 technical priorities, including the roughly 50:50 split between internal combustion and hybrid power. Komatsu reaffirmed that Haas’s foundational technical relationship with Ferrari, including the use of Ferrari power units, remains intact despite the new title partnership and strengthened technical alliance with Toyota. The principal emphasized there will be no crossover between the two teams’ technical programmes. Haas positioned the Fiorano outing as an important early step in preparing the VF-26 and the team’s programme for the new era of Formula 1.