Lewis Hamilton set the fastest lap on the final day of Formula 1’s 2026 shakedown in Barcelona, while Mercedes conducted the most mileage across the week.
The Ferrari driver completed an unofficial 1m16.348s towards the end of day five at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, knocking former Mercedes stablemate George Russell off top spot.
In what can only be described as a ‘glory run’ for Hamilton, he did it following a late switch to soft tyres on Friday to follow up from a promising morning for team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The Monegasque topped the unofficial morning timesheet with a 1m16.653s, 0.793s quicker than runner-up Oscar Piastri, with 78 laps compared to the McLaren’s 80.
That certainly marked a vast improvement for Piastri though, who had his Thursday ended early for a fuel issue, so he was much more positive after his Friday running.
“It was good,” said the McLaren driver, who finished third in the 2025 standings. “Nice to get some good laps on the board this morning, much smoother day than the first two we’ve had, so that was nice. I got into a pretty good rhythm and was able to start to feel what the car’s actually like, which was nice.”
Oscar Piastri, McLaren
Photo by: McLaren
His team-mate and reigning world champion Lando Norris followed up strongly in the cold afternoon with what was the best lap time, 1m16.594s, until Hamilton pipped him late on.
But the aim of the shakedown wasn’t to necessarily earn the fastest lap, but complete the most mileage to prepare the power units for the official pre-season tests, plus 24-round calendar.
That honour went to Mercedes, which is the favourite for both the constructors’ and drivers’ titles this year, having completed over 500 laps across its permitted three days of running on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli even completed a full race simulation on that second day for Mercedes, while Thursday saw Russell set an unofficial 1m16.4s which at one stage looked set to go unbeaten.
Key to its success has been that power unit, considered the best in F1, which across the factory team and its customer outfits completed the most laps compared to other engine suppliers.
Between Mercedes, McLaren and Alpine – the German marque’s fourth customer Williams was absent due to production delays – the engine is understood to have completed around 1000 laps.
George Russell, Mercedes
Photo by: Mercedes AMG
The Ferrari engine clocked up the second most mileage, with the Red Bull Ford Powertrain in third after its main squad returned on Friday with Max Verstappen behind the wheel.
The four-time world champion went out in the morning, completing 69 laps with a best time of 1m18.285s, in what was the first time Red Bull had been seen since Tuesday thanks to Isack Hadjar’s crash.
Others to have run on Friday include Haas, Audi, Cadillac and Aston Martin, the latter of which only contested the final two days of this week’s shakedown but caused a stir with its unique sidepod and engine cover design under the leadership of Adrian Newey.
Although Lance Stroll only turned in five laps on Thursday having caused a late red flag, team-mate Fernando Alonso enjoyed a smoother ride on Friday by completing at least 49 tours.
But the day ran much smoother than others this week with no red flags being caused, ahead of F1’s next collective on-track test in Bahrain on 11-13 February.
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– The Autosport.com Team
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