Mercedes impresses in Barcelona F1 shakedown with first race sim

Mercedes has delivered a robust begin to the 2026 Formulation 1 pre-season as Andrea Kimi Antonelli accomplished a full race simulation on day two.

The Mercedes W17 ran reliably on each Monday and Wednesday, with George Russell having accomplished 92 laps by lunchtime yesterday earlier than handing over the automotive to Antonelli. The teenager then reeled off 91 laps after the break, together with what he stated was a whole race simulation on solely his second half-day within the automotive.

Mercedes’ two prospects groups McLaren and Alpine have additionally been racking up the miles with the brand new Mercedes HPP energy unit, with simply Williams absent from the Barcelona shakedown.

Antonelli and Russell additionally led the timesheets with laptimes within the 1m17 vary, however these instances are unofficial and stay fully irrelevant this week. What actually issues is that the primary warning indicators for the competitors are there that Mercedes appears to have its home so as.

“I did plenty of laps and was capable of do a race sim, which was good and crucial factor is that we did plenty of laps, plenty of mileage and plenty of information for the workforce. It was an excellent day general,” the Italian remarked.

“This automotive is totally new and it is fairly an enormous step in comparison with final yr’s automotive. So everytime you go within the automotive, you may have a bit extra confidence after which all through the stint you be taught extra in regards to the automotive, you perceive the restrictions or the place you may push a bit extra. So, it is a fixed studying each time you go on monitor.”

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Russell was equally buoyed by the spectacular mileage Mercedes has been capable of cowl from the beginning. “We received an enormous quantity of laps in at this time between Kimi and I, which was nice,” he stated. “The monitor was two levels this morning, so I believe perhaps one of many coldest monitor temps I’ve ever pushed in, however the whole lot went actually easily and simply kind of getting by means of our check programme.

“We’re simply having fun with seeing the progress that we’re making and hoping will probably be sufficient to place us in an excellent place.”

Mercedes has since confirmed it’s going to additionally run on Thursday, which will likely be its final of the three days that groups are allowed to run over the week. Its drivers urged the Silver Arrows might already begin having a primary have a look at qualifying modes with the brand new energy unit, and the problem of deploying its large 350kW electrical power over a single qualifying lap.

“We’re targeted lots on lengthy runs and simply proving out the ability unit. We’ll in all probability have a look at kind of extra qualifying fashion runs tomorrow.” Russell defined after his runs on Wednesday. “That is going to be very completely different getting to make use of that 350 kilowatts over the course of a full lap, full beans, and that is going to have a distinct response on the automotive in comparison with the long term. So, we’ll in all probability have a primary have a look at that tomorrow.”‘