F1 announced a rotation deal that will see Circuit de Barcelona‑Catalunya and Spa‑Francorchamps share a single calendar slot on alternate years through 2032. Under the agreement, Spa‑Francorchamps will host the Belgian Grand Prix in 2027, 2029 and 2031, while Barcelona‑Catalunya will host in 2028, 2030 and 2032. The deal formalized a split calendar that preserves both historic venues but ended Barcelona‑Catalunya’s uninterrupted run as the regular host of the Spanish Grand Prix, which had run from 1991–2025, and means Barcelona will drop off the 2027 calendar and return in 2028.

The arrangements also intersect with the arrival of a new Madrid street race. Organizers said Madrid has taken the official Spanish Grand Prix title, but reporting varies on the precise 2026 allocation: one source said Barcelona‑Catalunya would stage a race in June, another placed Madrid’s Madring event in September, and other reports indicate Madrid will host the Spanish Grand Prix from 2026. Barcelona had entered the final year of its previous contract and faced pressure to upgrade facilities after losing the Spanish Grand Prix title; organizers said the rotation preserves both the Barcelona and Belgian rounds while accommodating the new Madrid event.

F1 and circuit officials framed the deal as a negotiated, multi‑year solution that keeps both venues on the calendar. Pol Gibert, CEO of Circuits de Catalunya SL, said the renewal consolidated Catalonia on the international calendar; organizers highlighted an estimated economic impact of more than €300 million per edition. F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali said he was “delighted” to continue racing at the circuit and welcomed the ongoing relationship. Organizers added the rotation frees up calendar flexibility — aided by confirmation that Zandvoort will be stepping back — leaving one remaining slot on the planned 24‑race 2027 calendar and opening the possibility for other additions such as Thailand or a return for Istanbul while the wider 2027 schedule is finalized.

Mercedes used the Bahrain pre-season test to probe the W17’s pace and tire behavior, finishing with George Russell posting the fastest lap of the week — a 1:33.918 on the soft C3 tire — while Lewis Hamilton sat second in the morning order. Russell completed 78 laps in the final morning and handed the car to Kimi Antonelli for afternoon running; the quick one-lap pace, including the only sub-1:34 lap of the session, contrasted with the longer-run work Mercedes prioritized during the test.

That long-run work included a 58-lap full race simulation by Russell that provided the clearest look at the W17’s tire degradation. On the soft C3s Russell’s first representative lap in the race run was 1:40.4, but lap times drifted into the 1:42s by lap 15 with an in-lap of 1:43.5 on lap 18 — roughly a two-second drop across that stint. The medium C2 stint began with a 1:38.6 and produced consistent 1:39.0–1:39.9 laps for more than a dozen laps, showing only about a 1.3-second drop over that window. The hard C1s produced an opening 1:38.2 and then hovered between 1:39 and 1:40 with the flattest degradation of the day, leading Mercedes to judge the medium and hard compounds more promising for race distance than the softs.

Mercedes also used the test to recover and collect mileage after earlier reliability and setup issues; the team logged heavy running across the week and the morning programs suggested greater stability and consistency after initial problems. Russell had warned after the opening day that “there’s work for us to do to get the W17 into a happier place,” and the session’s combination of short-run speed and detailed long-run tire data will form the basis of further setup changes and updates ahead of the next test phase.

Mercedes closed out the final day of the opening 2026 Bahrain pre-season test with a one-two, Kimi Antonelli setting the fastest lap of the day and the test. Antonelli took over from George Russell in the afternoon and posted a 1:33.669, eclipsing Russell’s morning benchmark of 1:33.918 by 0.249 seconds; Russell finished second after a 78-lap morning run.

Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton was the highest-placed runner behind the Mercedes pair, finishing third after heavy mileage during the day. Hamilton completed roughly 150 laps but stopped on track with just over 10 minutes remaining in the final session, bringing running to an early halt. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri logged in excess of 150 laps and finished fourth, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and team-mate Isack Hadjar lining up behind him.

The final day — and the three-day test overall — produced strong single-lap showings for Mercedes but a confused pecking order, as teams ran differing programs and on-track disruptions (including earlier Cadillac stoppages and the late Hamilton stoppage) curtailed some running. The closing sessions delivered mileage and reliability data across the grid while underlining Mercedes’ apparent one-lap pace advantage heading into the season.