Monday, January 26, marks the first day of the Barcelona Shakedown. As a reminder, that's an opportunity for the 11 F1 teams competing in the 2026 season to get their new cars on track and see what they're capable of.
The main idea is to help the teams check that everything is working as it should, and to see how the data gained on track correlates with what they've learned from various simulations. The Shakedown takes place from today through January 30 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, the home of the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.
The Shakedown is not televised because, as the official F1 website puts it, "A shakedown differs [from] a test in that it is the first time that a team runs its car. As such, the event is not about chasing performance."
"Instead, the teams will be focused on getting mileage on their cars and ensuring that all of the various parts work as expected amid the introduction of new regulations for the 2026 season."
Despite that, timings have been leaked on social media. Formula 1 stepped in and cut off those data feeds quite quickly, but before that happened, Red Bull Racing's Isack Hadjar was revealed as the fastest man on track, after putting in a lap time of 1:18.835.
Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli was up next, with his best effort clocked at 1:20.700. Then, there was Alpine's Franco Colapinto, who was third with a fastest lap time of 1:21.348. Haas driver Esteban Ocon completed the most laps in the session with 67 before the timings were blocked, and there were three Red Flags, after Colapinto, Gabriel Bortoleto, and Liam Lawson all had to stop on track.
One team we won't see in action in Barcelona this week is Williams. In a statement, they explained, "Atlassian Williams F1 Team has taken the decision not to participate in next week's shakedown test in Barcelona following delays in the FW48 programme as we continue to push for maximum car performance."
"The team will instead conduct a series of tests including a VTT programme next week with the 2026 car to prepare for the first official test in Bahrain and the first race of the season in Melbourne. We are looking forward to getting on track in the coming weeks and want to thank all our fans for your continued support - there is a lot to look forward to together in 2026."
It's too soon, and there's not enough information, to judge whether today's timings are an indication that we'll see a return to Red Bull dominance in 2026. That will become clearer when testing takes place in Bahrain next month.