The dawn of F1’s 2026 regulatory revolution has arrived, not with a public roar, but behind closed doors at a rain-soaked Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. As teams grapple with the most significant technical overhaul in a decade, the pecking order remains a mystery, but the tension in the paddock is palpable.
Lewis Hamilton, entering his second season in Ferrari red, offered a stark assessment of the new landscape. After wrestling the SF-26 through wet conditions on Tuesday, the seven-time champion admitted the radical changes to chassis and energy deployment have reset the competitive field.
“I mean, it’s a lot less downforce than we had last year, but we don’t have the porpoising that we had last year, or at least in 2022 when we started it,” Hamilton said. “And it’s massively challenging for everybody, for every team, which I think is great. It really puts everyone on the back foot.”
Hamilton emphasized that the title fight will likely be decided by who masters the complex new power units first. “Whoever develops the fastest, whoever is the smartest in optimizing the time and the energy deployment and development will be the ones at the top,” he said.
His teammate, Charles Leclerc, echoed the sentiment that the 2026 reset offers a chance to end Ferrari’s and other teams’ recent struggles.
“I am very excited to see what the others have in store and when we start pushing a bit more to see where we are compared to the others,” Leclerc said. “This year is a big opportunity for every team to do something different and maybe gain bigger advantage. I hope we are the team that will manage to make the difference.”
Red Bull Struggles as Hadjar Crashes in the Rain
While Ferrari analyzed data, Red Bull faced a mix of engineering pride and logistical scrambling. The team’s brave venture into manufacturing its own engines has started well, but the chassis took a beating on Tuesday. Rookie Isack Hadjar crashed at the fast final corner, damaging the rear of the RB22.
“It was very tricky conditions this afternoon, so very unfortunate that it finished that way, but it’s part of the game,” Red Bull Team Principal Laurent Mekies said. “These difficulties came after a very, very positive day yesterday in terms of the number of laps Isack could complete in the car, and in terms of his learning and development and feedback to the engineers.”
The complexity of the new machinery was highlighted by Haas rookie Oliver Bearman, whose session was cut short by a technical issue. “The problem that would have taken maybe 30 minutes with last year’s car, since everybody knew it so well, took a lot longer just because there’s a few more intricate details, and there’s just so much more to the power unit compared with what we’ve been used to,” Bearman said.
Mercedes Mileage, The Champ is Here & Williams Still Absent
Meanwhile, Mercedes signaled it means business. George Russell clocked a massive 92 laps in a single morning session Wednesday, the highest mileage of the test so far. Reigning world champion Lando Norris also broke cover, completing 33 laps for McLaren while sporting the number 1 on his car for the first time.
Not everyone made the gate drop. Williams is conspicuously absent, missing the entire week in what has been described as a “black eye” for the team, while Audi struggled with reliability, triggering red flags as Nico Hulkenberg ground to a halt on track.
