2026 F1 Barcelona Pre-Season Test - Day 3 Morning Results.
George Russell held the fastest lap time halfway through the third day of running in Barcelona, setting a 1:17.580.
28 Jan 2026
RacingNews365 Staff
RacingNews365

George Russell held the fastest lap time… Perhaps even more impressive, however, is the Briton's lap count as he clocked up 92 tours of the circuit.

It was a difficult morning for Nico Hulkenberg and Audi as another mechanical issue forced the German driver to pull over after just four laps. Lando Norris and McLaren made their first appearance of the test week, with the reigning champion sitting in third place.

2026 F1 Barcelona Pre-Season Test - Day 3 Morning Results
Pos. Driver Team Lap time Laps
1. George Russell Mercedes 1:17.580 92
2. Franco Colapinto Alpine +1.570 56
3. Lando Norris McLaren +2.092 34
4. Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls +3.314 61
5. Oliver Bearman Haas +3.260 21
6. Nico Hulkenberg Audi No time 4

‘George Russell fastest’;

https://racingnews365.com/2026-f1-ba...orning-results


Russell delivers standout display as Mercedes turn heads in Barcelona
28 Jan 2026
Tobia Elia
GPblog.com

George Russell topped the timesheets during the morning of day three in Barcelona and also completed the highest number of laps. Clearer conditions greeted the start of day three after a rain-soaked morning previously disrupted running, finally allowing teams to head back out on track in dry weather.

After only Red Bull and Ferrari took part yesterday, the field expanded significantly today, with several teams joining the action — most notably McLaren, which made its long-awaited on-track debut with the MCL40, driven by Lando Norris.

The session was not without interruptions, however, as two red flags halted running. Audi suffered another problem when Nico Hulkenberg was forced to stop his RS26 on circuit, while Oliver Bearman also came to a standstill at Turn 2, with the cause of his stoppage still unclear.

‘Standout display’;

https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/russe...s-in-barcelona


Russell sets fastest lap of Barcelona F1 test so far
Jan 28, 2026
Scott Mitchell-Malm
The Race

Mercedes driver George Russell’s 1m17.580s eclipsed the Monday benchmark by Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar by 0.6s as Mercedes began another extremely productive day on-track. After racking up nearly 100 laps in just half a day on Monday, when he took over from team-mate Kimi Antonelli in the morning, Russell is understood to have come close to 100 laps again on Wednesday.

This was achieved through various long runs and was significantly more than anybody else before lunch. Antonelli will be back in the W17 for the second half of Wednesday’s running. Russell’s best time was 1.6s quicker than Franco Colapinto managed in the Mercedes-powered Alpine in the first half of the day.

Laptimes midway through Day 3
1 George Russell (Mercedes) 1m17.580s
2 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) 1m19.150s
3 Lando Norris (McLaren) 1m19.672s
4 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) 1m20.714s
5 Ollie Bearman (Haas) 1m20.840s
6 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) No time

‘Close to 100 laps again’;

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/g...elona-f1-test/


McLaren hit the track as Norris rolls out long-awaited MCL40 in Barcelona
13:59, 28 Jan
Tobia Elia
GPblog.com

McLaren MCL40 finally made its official on-track debut on the third day of testing in Barcelona. The reigning world champions had already planned to skip the opening day and were then forced to sit out day two due to rain, with Lando Norris finally getting his first taste of the new car.

The Briton ran throughout the morning, and it remained unclear whether he would hand over to teammate Oscar Piastri later in the day or stay in the car for the full session. The MCL40 is running a special full-black livery for the Barcelona tests, with the final design set to be unveiled at a dedicated launch event on 9 February.

‘McLaren hit the track’;

https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/mclar...0-in-barcelona


Several ‘insiders’ are ‘suspicious’ about what they’ve noticed on Ferrari’s 2026 car at F1 testing
28 January 2026
Kyle Archer
F1 Oversteer

Ferrari raises ‘suspicions’ that they have an S-Duct on their 2026 F1 car. A number of paddock ‘insiders’ are understood to be questioning whether Ferrari have tried to incorporate an S-Duct into the design of their first car for the 2026 F1 regulations. F1 has overhauled the regulations, with new engine, aero, chassis and tyre rules coming into force.

Images of the Ferrari SF-26 on track in Barcelona have sparked ‘suspicions’ that their head of aerodynamics Diego Tondi has added a channel to direct clean air from below the radiator inlets to the top of the sidepods. The channel can also extract hot air away from the engine.

The main purpose with the S-Duct is to accelerate the airflow towards the rear diffuser and improve Ferrari’s aerodynamic efficiency. Tondi and his team are said to have achieved their goal by adding a slot in the Halo on the SF-26 to firstly manage the airflow out of the S-Duct.

‘The S-Duct’;

https://www.f1oversteer.com/news/sev...at-f1-testing/


Leclerc’s All-New Ferrari SF-26 Has Him Eyeing 2026 Title
28 January 2026
Jack Banneron
F1Chronicle

Charles Leclerc climbed out of Ferrari’s SF-26 sounding like a guy who’s finally been handed a clean sheet of paper. Leclerc is “very excited” for 2026, and he’s openly talking about dragging Ferrari back to the top. After years where Ferrari’s promise has often arrived with an asterisk, this reset feels like the kind you can actually build a title run on, and that’s why everyone’s leaning in.

Ferrari skipped Day 1 of the five-day Barcelona event and rolled out on Day 2, right on schedule, with Leclerc first to hit the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. If you’ve ever shown up late to something stressful to avoid the opening chaos, you get the vibe, and Ferrari essentially admitted as much by choosing their moment. Leclerc described getting back in the car as returning to something “very, very all-new,” and he wasn’t doing PR poetry.

2026 brings a double reset, new chassis philosophy and new power unit rules, so even the basic instincts drivers rely on, braking references, corner commitment, energy deployment habits, get a hard reboot. He also pointed out the conditions were messy, with rain in the morning, which makes those first laps feel like trying new shoes on an ice rink. Still, Ferrari ran their programme anyway, because this stage is about whether the thing works, not whether it’s fast, and anyone who’s watched a new-spec car cough through its first week knows how valuable that sentence is.

‘Eyeing 2026 Title’;

https://f1chronicle.com/leclercs-all.../?nowprocket=1