Barcelona Testing Schedule and Times as Lewis Hamilton Finally Hits the Track
The long wait is finally over. Formula 1’s bold new era officially roars into life this week as pre-season testing for 2026 gets under way at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, with five crucial days of behind-closed-doors running stretching through to Friday, January 30.
With sweeping regulation changes reshaping the sport from the ground up, the stakes could hardly be higher. The paddock is buzzing with talk of a potential Mercedes resurgence, whispers of Ferrari breakthroughs, and the unknowns surrounding brand-new manufacturers. But before the season’s first shockwaves hit the grid, every team must survive the most important phase of the winter: the shakedown.
Ten of the eleven teams will take part in Barcelona as they put their 2026 machines through their first serious on-track examination. And perhaps the biggest headline of all—Lewis Hamilton is expected to make his first public running of the season with Ferrari today, kicking off Year Two of what is already one of the most talked-about projects in modern F1 history.
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Barcelona Testing Schedule and Session Times
Track action in Barcelona began on Monday, January 26, and runs through to Friday, January 30, giving teams five days in total to collect vital data. However, there’s an important caveat: each team is restricted to running on only three of the five days, forcing engineers to choose their track time carefully.
Testing runs daily from 09:00 to 17:00 local time (CET). That translates to 08:00–16:00 in the UK, 03:00–11:00 Eastern Time, and midnight to 08:00 Pacific for viewers on the US West Coast.
Ferrari are expected to unleash Hamilton on Tuesday, January 27, marking his first proper taste of the SF-26 in a live testing environment. With the seven-time world champion now fully embedded in Maranello life, all eyes will be on Ferrari’s early pace—and any clues about how competitive they might be once the lights go out in Melbourne.
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Why You Won’t See a Single Lap on TV
There’s good news and bad news for fans. The good news? F1 cars are finally back on track. The bad news? You won’t actually be able to watch them.
Barcelona testing is a total broadcast blackout. No live TV, no onboard feeds, no timing screens, and no official data released to the public. Everything happens behind closed doors, with only limited team-produced content making it out.
However, Sky Sports have found a clever workaround for die-hard fans. Each evening, Ted Kravitz will front a nightly highlights and analysis show, airing live on YouTube at 19:00 UK time (20:00 CET, 14:00 Eastern, 11:00 Pacific). The programme will later be replayed on Sky Sports F1 at 21:00 UK time, offering insight, interviews, and whatever scraps of information can be gathered from the paddock.
Looking ahead, testing moves to Bahrain in February. The first session from February 11–13 will feature one hour of live TV coverage per day, while the second test from February 18–20 will be fully televised.
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Who’s Running—and Who Isn’t
Not everyone will be present in Barcelona. Williams have confirmed they will not take part at all, citing delays in the FW48 development programme. Instead, the team will focus on simulator work and a VTT programme as they aim to be fully prepared for Bahrain and the season opener in Australia.
McLaren will also be absent at the start of the week. Team principal Andrea Stella has confirmed their 2026 car won’t hit the track until Tuesday or Wednesday, as the team prioritised extra design and development time over early mileage.
“We wanted to give ourselves every possible performance gain,” Stella explained, underlining just how fine the margins are expected to be under the new rules.
Elsewhere, attention will be firmly fixed on the Mercedes W17, widely rumoured to be a potential game-changer, and Ferrari’s SF-26 as Hamilton’s title push gathers momentum. There’s also intrigue surrounding Audi’s first official outing after taking over Sauber, and Cadillac’s debut as a brand-new entrant on the F1 grid.
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What Teams Are Really Testing
Lap times will mean very little this week. Instead, Barcelona is all about data collection, reliability, and understanding how these radically different cars behave in the real world.
Expect to see classic testing staples like flow-vis paint, glowing fluorescent green as engineers study airflow across wings and sidepods, along with bulky aero rakes packed with sensors measuring pressure, temperature, and turbulence. Every lap helps teams correlate wind-tunnel simulations with on-track reality.
And as for the secrecy? It’s intentional. With winter weather always a risk in Europe, limiting teams to three days ensures everyone still gets meaningful running—even if rain or cold conditions disrupt the schedule.
The stopwatch may be hidden, but make no mistake: the race to crack the 2026 regulations has already begun.
