Red Bull's RB22 Sets Early Pace Amid Test Disruptions

Formula 1’s closed-door 2026 pre-season test got under way at Barcelona with seven of 11 teams running on Monday and Mercedes providing the first car on track when Kimi Antonelli rolled out shortly after 9 a.m. Isack Hadjar set the quickest unofficial lap of the day in the Red Bull RB22, with widely reported timing showing a 1:18.159, while George Russell ended the day around half a second back. Red Bull ran its new RB22 — debuting its bespoke power unit developed with Ford — and teams used the session mainly to gather mileage and debug systems rather than make definitive performance comparisons. The day featured multiple stoppages, including a sensor-related red flag for Alpine and a separate Audi stoppage, and several entrants such as Audi and Cadillac had limited running while Haas and others piled up laps.

On Tuesday morning that limited running was compounded by mixed weather and another red flag when Max Verstappen briefly beached the RB22 at Turn 5 after taking over from Hadjar, prompting a stoppage before the car was recovered. Rain curtailed programs across the paddock, with Mercedes, Alpine, Audi and Cadillac canceling their morning running and Haas sitting out to analyze data from day one. Only Red Bull and Ferrari logged laps during the wet first half of the second day, while Aston Martin confirmed it would not run until later in the week and Williams did not take part in the test at all. Teams are allowed to use any three of the five test days, so the disrupted sessions shifted many squads’ plans for system checks, aerodynamic evaluations and tire work.

Mileage figures underlined the differing priorities — Esteban Ocon completed a session-leading 154 laps for Haas — and several teams reported curtailed programs owing to reliability or set-up work, most notably Cadillac and Audi. The private nature of the shakedown, removal of unofficial timing streams and the succession of red flags and weather interruptions mean early lap times should be treated as provisional rather than conclusive. Still, Red Bull’s early pace and the RB22’s consistent running provided an encouraging first read for the defending constructors, while the coming days in Barcelona will be crucial for teams that have yet to complete meaningful mileage. Overall the Barcelona shakedown delivered a mix of useful data gathering and interrupted running as teams began to evaluate their new cars and power units under the 2026 regulations.