The opening morning of the Barcelona shakedown ran behind closed doors and was interrupted several times, with Red Bull leading the running and new signing Isack Hadjar setting the unofficial pace.

Hadjar’s best reported laps were in the mid-to-low 1:18s — accounts listed times such as 1:18.159, 1:18.835 and 1:18.1 — while one later report noted a 1:20.3. Media and teams cautioned that differing tyre choices and private running programs made direct comparisons unreliable. An unofficial timing stream that had been available during the session was later removed, and at least three red flags stopped running for incidents involving Franco Colapinto (Alpine), Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) and Liam Lawson.

Only seven of the 11 teams ran on the opening day. McLaren and Ferrari are expected to start on Tuesday; Williams missed the shakedown after failing initial FIA crash tests, and Aston Martin’s appearance was pushed back. Mercedes completed more than 20 laps in the morning, made a midday driver change with Kimi Antonelli giving way to George Russell after lunch, then spent significant time in the garage later in the session. Haas driver Esteban Ocon logged the highest reported mileage of the day with around 154 laps, Sergio Perez largely did installation laps, and Red Bull’s heavy program — reported as 108 laps — was described by Sky Sports reporter Ted Kravitz as “eye-catching.”

The stop–start, closed nature of the shakedown made it primarily a debugging and mileage-gathering exercise rather than a conclusive performance test. Teams focused on reliability checks, systems validation and running different tyre compounds while keeping program details private. Hadjar’s strong debut and Red Bull’s substantial mileage were the clearest takeaways from the opening morning, while the limited participation and red-flag interruptions mean a fuller picture of relative competitiveness will have to wait for subsequent sessions.

Sources