2026 McLaren Mastercard F1 Team

[Macklaren]

Wonder if we will do a performance run in the afternoon session like Merc and Ferrari

[Niiek]

End of morning session, good amount of laps by Piastri.

Leclerc: 1:16.653 (79 laps)
Piastri: 1:17.446 (79 laps)
Verstappen: 1:18.285 (69 laps)
Bearman: 1:18.423 (105 laps)
Gasly: ​​1:19.754 (78 laps)
Bortoleto: 1:20.179 (64 laps)
Alonso: 1:20.795 (49 laps)
Bottas: 1:22.790 (33 laps)

Nice recovery compared to yesterday.

[Darth-Piekus]

79 Laps. Best time 1.17.446 with the mediums. Leclerc had his time with the softs if I read correctly. Now at afternoon I would love to see some performance runs.

[FittingMechanics]

I'm not sure that time is on mediums, the data is really sporadic.

Usual runplan McLaren used last few years was to do aero work at the start of the session, go out with aero rakes, flow viz, etc. Then make changes to the car and in second part of the session they would execute their quali sim. After that they switch to a long run.

I would expect they did similar today. I bet they used softs (they brought them) and probably set that best time on a soft. Doesn't really matter, it's still early days but good to get mileage.

[bauc]

End of morning session, good amount of laps by Piastri.

Leclerc: 1:16.653 (79 laps)
Piastri: 1:17.446 (79 laps)
Verstappen: 1:18.285 (69 laps)
Bearman: 1:18.423 (105 laps)
Gasly: ​​1:19.754 (78 laps)
Bortoleto: 1:20.179 (64 laps)
Alonso: 1:20.795 (49 laps)
Bottas: 1:22.790 (33 laps)

Nice recovery compared to yesterday.

Well its only normal, yesterday they had a fuel leak, and since it is a new PU in a new chassis, they need to inspect where the leakage is coming from, which meant taking the car apart, yes we lost time on the track but we found a potential weakness in the installation of the package which is more important as this is what pre-season test is all about.

[venkyhere]

Guys, don't spend so much time and energy on 'laptimes' - they dont mean anything without knowing fuel load, tyre age (even if we forget 'PU modes'). None of us know "whether anything is getting 'stress tested' at all, and even if yes, which aspect - PU or suspension or aero ?" Most likely they are cycling through PU modes in Barcelona and will move to aero/kinetics in Bahrain only (widely held belief in the community). So the only 'useful' thing coming out of these 5 days is "the pictures" and even that usefulness is only to such a level as to entertain ourselves with 'armchair conjecture' .

[Darth-Piekus]

Lando is now doing laps.

[Macklaren]

According to our Spanish colleagues at SoyMotor, Norris has just set a 1m16.594s which is just over a tenth off this week's best time which was done by Russell.

NORRIS 2XWDC INCOMING!!!

[Darth-Piekus]

With the softs if what I saw in the picture is true.

[LionsHeart]

Not bad.

[LionsHeart]

The more I look at the MCL40, the more I like it… Hopefully the stopwatch matches the looks!

It’s interesting too how bias works, reading a few in here the MCL40 is bland and uninspired, but apparently the AMR is ground breaking (maybe because Newey’s name is attached to it)… while it’s hard to find a lot of original ideas in the Aston (the rear suspension blowing people’s minds carries the same concept as the RB16B, the underbite in the sidepods is also an old RB concept, the Ferrari horns, downwash sidepods, , the MCL40 seems to be doing it’s own thing in more than one area…. Time will tell, happy to have cars on track

I completely agree with your opinion. There's nothing more to add here.

[De Wet]

The more I look at the MCL40, the more I like it… Hopefully the stopwatch matches the looks!

It’s interesting too how bias works, reading a few in here the MCL40 is bland and uninspired, but apparently the AMR is ground breaking (maybe because Newey’s name is attached to it)… while it’s hard to find a lot of original ideas in the Aston (the rear suspension blowing people’s minds carries the same concept as the RB16B, the underbite in the sidepods is also an old RB concept, the Ferrari horns, downwash sidepods, , the MCL40 seems to be doing it’s own thing in more than one area…. Time will tell, happy to have cars on track

I completely agree with your opinion. There's nothing more to add here.

Agree...

[SilviuAgo]

[SilviuAgo]

The more I look at the MCL40, the more I like it… Hopefully the stopwatch matches the looks!

It’s interesting too how bias works, reading a few in here the MCL40 is bland and uninspired, but apparently the AMR is ground breaking (maybe because Newey’s name is attached to it)… while it’s hard to find a lot of original ideas in the Aston (the rear suspension blowing people’s minds carries the same concept as the RB16B, the underbite in the sidepods is also an old RB concept, the Ferrari horns, downwash sidepods, , the MCL40 seems to be doing it’s own thing in more than one area…. Time will tell, happy to have cars on track

I completely agree with your opinion. There's nothing more to add here.

Agree...

For the moment Newey's AMR26 is closer to McLaren Honda 2015 days than Red Bull. 4 laps in 4 days for Honda engine is something This happens when you have only one team for the data.

[swifteddie1]

163 laps today...

https://racingnews365.com/2026-f1-barce ... -5-results

Pos. Driver Team Lap time Laps
1 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:16.348 63
2 Lando Norris McLaren 1:16.594 83
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:16.653 78
4 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:17.446 80
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:17.586 118
6 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:17.707 160
7 Esteban Ocon Haas 1:18.393 85
8 Oliver Bearman Haas 1:18.423 106
9 Nico Hulkenberg Audi 1:19.870 78
10 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi 1:20.179 66
11 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:20.795 49
12 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac 1:20.920 54