F1 2026: Aston Martin Makes Barcelona Shakedown Debut with Honda; McLaren Faces Trouble

Day 4 of the 2026 Formula 1 Barcelona shakedown felt like the point where teams really started squeezing value out of every lap. With Bahrain now firmly on the horizon, the mood in the pit lane was all about mileage and making sure the basics worked. Mercedes stayed busy from morning to evening, rotating Andrea Kimi Antonelli and George Russell through the W17 while running long stints and checking power unit behaviour. Ferrari followed a similar rhythm, keeping the car on track and quietly building confidence. No one was chasing lap times, but both teams came away with clean sessions, which matters far more at this stage.

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Racing Bulls signed off its Barcelona programme on Thursday, with Arvid Lindblad and Liam Lawson completing the team’s three permitted days of running. The laps were mainly about understanding energy deployment and software behaviour rather than pushing performance. Red Bull was absent again, still dealing with parts delays from earlier damage.

McLaren switched drivers for the day, with Oscar Piastri stepping in after Lando Norris ran on Wednesday. Piastri managed early running and worked through the planned programme, but overall mileage stayed on the low side compared to rivals. Cadillac also returned to the track, continuing its steady build-up, while most teams used the session to rehearse procedures and collect data.

Cold temperatures made life difficult, especially in the opening hours, with grip hard to find across the circuit. Even so, Mercedes and Ferrari ended the day with healthy lap counts, pointing to good early reliability under the new rules. Engineers spent much of the evening going through data as attention slowly began shifting towards the final day in Barcelona and what still needs ticking off before Bahrain.

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The moment everyone waited for came late in the afternoon when Aston Martin finally sent the AMR26 out on track. Lance Stroll completed the car’s first laps with Honda power, but the run did not last long. The car stopped in the final sector after only a handful of laps, triggering the sole red flag of the day and bringing Aston Martin’s session to an early end. McLaren’s afternoon also unravelled after a fuel system issue kept the MCL40 in the garage, leaving the team short on running heading into the final day of the shakedown.