F1 2026 testing live: Latest updates, lap times and schedule in Barcelona – UK Times

This is what we’ll see this week in Barcelona.

Here we go – Formula 1 pre-season testing is underway!

After Barcelona, there will then be two official pre-season tests in Bahrain on 11-13 February and 18-20 February.

The 2026 season starts with the Australian Grand Prix on 8 March.

Horner, 52, can return to the sport from this spring and is eyeing a route back into the paddock, with French team Alpine the most likely destination.

However, a week before the 2026 season starts in Australia on 8 March, the British executive is embarking on a new challenge: a three-day speaking tour down under.

As it is a private event, the test will not be broadcast or streamed on TV or online.

However, Sky Sports F1’s YouTube channel will show brief highlights every night at 9pm, with F1’s usual set of cameras present at the Barcelona circuit.

The FIA have confirmed that lap times will be published at the end of each day, too.

Williams have withdrawn from the private F1 pre-season test in Barcelona following “delays” to their car development programme.

James Vowles’s outfit, who boast an impressive driver pairing in Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon, have long targeted 2026 and this new set of regulations as a year to work their way up the pecking order.

Yet following reports that the team’s 2026 car, the FW48, had failed the FIA’s mandatory crash tests, the team confirmed on Friday that they will not be present at the shakedown event for all 11 teams next week.

Twelve months into his multi-year Ferrari contract, Lewis Hamilton’s re-emergence into the public domain on Friday did not carry the weight of giddiness and expectation of a year ago. In hindsight, perhaps the delirium of his debut season was a bit too much for all involved.

Yet 2026 is an open book – new regulations and potentially a new pecking order – and the first season in which Hamilton can fully stamp his imprint on a new-look car. Whether or not the boffins in Maranello have heeded the knowledge and experience of Hamilton’s 19 years in Formula 1, however, is another matter altogether.

The private ‘shakedown’ event for the teams will take place over five days, Monday-Friday, starting at 8am (GMT) and finishing at 5pm (GMT), with a one-hour lunch break at midday (GMT).

With eight hours of running a day, and teams able to run on a maximum of three days, teams could gather up to 24 hours of invaluable data for the season ahead.

The 2026 Formula 1 season is upon us and with just six weeks until the first race in Australia, the teams are now preparing for a campaign of unknowns.

New regulations this season mean it is a clean slate for all 11 teams, with Cadillac the first new team on the grid since Haas in 2016. Audi have also taken over Sauber, with Ford partnering with Red Bull to build their own engines.

McLaren won both world championships last year, with Lando Norris claiming his first drivers’ title. Yet this season, Mercedes are rumoured to be the frontrunners, though we won’t know anything until we see the cars out on track.

This week’s test behind-closed-doors in Barcelona is the first of three pre-season sessions for the teams, with official tests in Bahrain next month (11-13 February and 18-20 February). However, Williams won’t be present this week due to delays to their car.