Antonelli leads a Mercedes sweep in Barcelona while rivals struggle to keep up
Antonelli leads the third day with a top-five dominated by Mercedes engines. Race simulations for Kimi and Russell. The AMR26 is already in Barcelona.
Lap times don’t mean much in preseason testing — especially this early in Barcelona — but it’s hard to ignore that the top five drivers on Wednesday’s timesheet were all running Mercedes power.
Antonelli records fastest lap on Day 3
Kimi Antonelli set the pace with a 1:17.362, edging out George Russell by 0.218 seconds, the fastest lap of testing so far. The Italian logged 91 laps, nearly matching Russell’s 92. In short, both factory Mercedes cars completed full race‑simulation programs without a single hiccup, while most of the field spent the day ironing out the growing pains of this new generation of cars.
Lando Norris (3rd, +0.945) turned 74 laps in the McLaren MCL40 — his first real mileage of the year — and wasn’t dramatically off the pace. The lap count is solid, even if it looks modest next to Mercedes’ combined 183 laps. Franco Colapinto (4th, +1.788) and Pierre Gasly (5th, +1.935) also had productive days in their Alpine machines, which likewise run the Brixworth‑built power unit. The pattern is clear: if you’re running a Mercedes engine, these tests are about mileage and learning. If you’re running anything else… good luck.
The session stayed dry, encouraging most teams to rack up laps. Only Ferrari and Cadillac skipped the day entirely. Mechanical issues triggered a few red flags. Nico Hülkenberg, for example, had to be towed back to the garage early on, though Audi salvaged the afternoon with 68 laps. Ollie Bearman also hit trouble and ended his day at 42 laps. The busiest driver was Arvid Lindblad, who logged an impressive 119 laps in the RB.
Aston Martin’s AMR26 to get a run-out
Absences mattered as much as the running. Red Bull never left the garage after Isack Hadjar’s crash on Tuesday, which left the team waiting on replacement parts from the factory. Max Verstappen won’t be thrilled.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Aston Martin finally has good news: after missing the first three days, the disassembled AMR26 has arrived in Barcelona. Mechanics will spend the next few hours building it up so Fernando Alonso or Lance Stroll can debut it on Thursday and Friday. That leaves just two days for Adrian Newey’s new project instead of three — but at this point, the priority is simply getting Honda’s power unit logging miles, testing reliability, and starting to close the gap.
F1 2026 test in Barcelona: times and laps from day 3
- ANT (Mercedes). 1:17,362 (91)
- RUS (Mer) 1:17,580 (92)
- NOR (McL) 1:18.307 (74)
- COL (Alp) 1:19,150 (58)
- GAS (Alp) 1:19.297 (65)
- BEA (Haas) 1:19.314 (42)
- LIN (RB) 1:19,420 (119)
- HUL (Audi) 1:21,010 (68)
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