Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli set his quickest time in testing to this point on the third day of F1’s behind-closed-doors shakedown in Barcelona.
The usual time was damaged twice by Mercedes drivers on Wednesday, as George Russell clocked a 1 minute 17.580 seconds within the morning and Antonelli beat his teammate’s time with a 1 minute 17.382 seconds.
Easy lap occasions imply little in pre-season testing, however it was one other sturdy day for Mercedes, who clocked a powerful 183 laps in whole. Russell scored 92 factors within the morning, and Antonelli scored 91 factors within the afternoon.
Mercedes’ W17 not solely set the headline time for the five-day take a look at, but additionally ran reliably with none main issues.
Antonelli units new benchmark time in W17
McLaren’s 2026 challenger took half in pre-season testing in Barcelona on Wednesday, with the reigning world champion lastly making his long-awaited observe debut, with Lando Norris setting the third quickest time.
The MCL40 broke cowl simply earlier than 10am native time (11am UK), with reigning world champion Norris on the wheel and sporting the #1 on the automotive’s nostril for the primary time. Norris accomplished a complete of 77 laps on the primary day of McLaren observe.
Audi’s tough testing continued, with Nico Hulkenberg stopping after only a few set up laps and additional technical issues slicing the crew’s day brief with simply 27 laps on Monday.
However in contrast to on Monday, Audi was in a position to get again on observe.
Olly Bearman’s Haas and Arvid Lindblad’s Racing Bulls additionally stopped on observe on Wednesday, leading to purple flags.
A complete of six groups took half on Wednesday, with Purple Bull notably absent following Hajar’s huge crash on the second day.
The Milton Keynes crew remains to be repairing the RB22, however will solely have the ability to use it for testing on one of many three days allowed.
Ferrari and Cadillac additionally opted to sit down out Wednesday, late-arriving Aston Martin can be scheduled to debut its AMR26 by Thursday, and Williams additionally sat out the complete take a look at.
