Two rivals catch George Russell’s eye during first F1 2026 test

George Russell was impressed by Red Bull and Haas on the opening day of F1 pre-season testing in Barcelona.

Early favourites Mercedes enjoyed a strong start to pre-season testing as Russell and teammate Kimi Antonelli clocked up 151 laps between them, while Russell ended up with the second-fastest time.

Mercedes’ impressive mileage came after the team raised eyebrows after their W17 challenger completed 67 trouble-free laps during a statement shakedown run at Silverstone last week.

But Russell admitted the performance of two rival teams in particular caught his eye on Monday.

"We're very pleased with the day but I was pretty impressed with a number of other teams, to be honest," Russell said.

"The Red Bull-powered teams, brand-new power unit, and they're a brand-new team from a power-unit side, and they had a really smooth day with two cars. Audi had some good laps in there as well. Haas did the most laps of everyone with a Ferrari engine.”

Despite being tipped as the team to beat without a wheel being turned in anger, Russell stressed Mercedes won’t repeat the dominance they enjoyed the last time new power unit regulations were introduced in 2014.

"It's not quite 2014 vibes of half the grid breaking down and having loads of issues. I think Formula 1 has evolved so much since then and the level is just so high in every single aspect,” he added.

"It was pretty impressive to see all the teams on the whole having a lot of laps under their belt on day one.”

How was the new Mercedes?

Antonelli was pleased with how the W17 drove on the first day of running.

"It was a very interesting morning, very nice to be back in the car," Antonelli said.

"It's a massive learning. We've been trying to tune the power unit and the car, and obviously this afternoon the car has improved a lot, and it's a constant learning.

"The car is nice. It's very nice to drive and obviously on the power-unit side it's a bit different to what we had last year, it requires a bit more management but it's all doable.

"On the power-unit side, the team did a really good job and driveability, which was a big question mark, seems to be good so far.

"Obviously, it's early days, and that's why with the running we will discover a lot more about the car and the power unit and we'll be able to see where it's lacking or where it's actually good, but so far, the package is feeling good."

Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin said: "We are happy with how today went overall. The main thing we are looking for in the early running of any new car is to make sure we can get plenty of laps in. 

"That enables us to get into the learning of our programme in subsequent days. Today was all about understanding the car, therefore, making sure it stabilised at the correct temperatures, and ensure we could do our long runs. It is positive that we were able to achieve that.

"It has been a monumental project to get this car ready both on the chassis and Power Unit side; at Brixworth they have been working on this for years. 

"We don't know where we stand in terms of performance, but we've proved we are able to keep the car out on the track and that is testament to the hard work of everyone at both our factories."