With the opening day of the Barcelona shakedown now wrapped up, Ted Kravitz has shared what stood out to him from Red Bull as the 2026 F1 season gets underway. Seven of the 11 teams took part in running on day one, while Ferrari and Aston Martin joined McLaren in opting to wait until later.
With the opening day of the Barcelona shakedown now wrapped up, Ted Kravitz has shared what stood out to him from Red Bull as the 2026 F1 season gets underway.
Seven of the 11 teams took part in running on day one, while Ferrari and Aston Martin joined McLaren in opting to wait until later. McLaren is coming off a dominant 2025 campaign where they won both titles.
Williams were also absent, having missed the event after failing to meet FIA crash test requirements. This is an important step in every team’s build-up before a new season starts.
Isack Hadjar finished on top of the timesheets for Red Bull at the end of the session. But with testing being so secretive, it’s unclear how much those lap times can be compared across teams who did get some running done.
Red Bull’s high lap total stands out on day one in Barcelona, noted by Ted Kravitz
Red Bull put in a busy first day at the Barcelona shakedown, and Ted Kravitz was quick to take notice of their impressive mileage.
The young driver got a full day behind the wheel of the RB22, as he prepares for his first full season with Red Bull after replacing Yuki Tsunoda.
“For a major rule change, the biggest in living memory since the hybrid engines came in 2014 certainly. We’re not going to look at the lap times,” Kravitz told Sky Sports. “These are unofficial times I have to say but we have cross-referenced them with the teams who have confirmed their individual times.
“So Hadjar was quickest for whatever that’s worth with a 1:18.1 and half a tenth further back was George Russell. And we believe that Russell’s time was on a C1, which is interesting because that’s the hardest tyre whereas Hadjar was not on C1.
“And then Franco Colapinto did well there with Alpine at 120.1 from him so good effort from him as well so we saw some good times and they went down quickly because it started at about 128s this morning and ended up about 10 seconds quicker by the end of it.”
Kravitz also noted that Haas managed an even more impressive tally of 154 laps, while Antonelli and Russell combined for 151 laps between them. The consistency shown by teams across such a significant regulation shift highlights just how far F1 reliability has come.
Why so many teams took part in the first day of the shakedown
The forecast for Barcelona this week played a big part in how day one of the shakedown unfolded, with several teams opting to get laps in early.
New regulations always bring extra challenges, and some had expected a repeat of the slow start seen in 2014. But with over 900 laps completed across all teams on Monday, this time was far more productive.
“But when you look at the forecast for Barcelona, I think that’s a real reason people have got out on track today. The next three days carry quite a high risk of rain,” fellow Sky Sports F1 presenter Bernie Collins added.
“So people are trying to get the very important first day in, get some niggles out of the way, which allows them some leeway to play with over the next few days and choose the best opportunities on track.”
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Category: General Sports
