How Mercedes surpassed their own expectations in statement F1 test

Mercedes surpassed even their own expectations in a statement first F1 2026 pre-season test at Barcelona.

George Russell and Kimi Antonelli clocked exactly 500 laps between them around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya over the course of Mercedes’ permitted three-days of running to leave the Silver Arrows top of the mileage charts in F1’s behind closed doors shakedown.

As well as being the busiest team, Mercedes also laid down a marker in terms of pace, with the German manufacturer’s drivers taking it in turns to produce new benchmark lap times.

At the time of writing, Russell’s 1m16.445s from day four remains the fastest time of the five-day test. For what its worth, Mercedes went faster this week than their best race lap from last year’s Spanish Grand Prix.

On both Wednesday and Thursday, Mercedes finished 1-2 in the leaderboard, even though it is widely accepted that outright lap times in pre-season testing mean very little given the many variables and unknown factors at play. This is even more true with the added secrecy F1 has cloaked the Barcelona shakedown in.

Mercedes’ strong mileage and bullet-proof reliability was particularly impressive and caught the eye of their rivals. On day two, Antonelli was able to complete a full race simulation.

Such was the smoothness of their test, Mercedes even moved on to looking at some qualifying modes on their final day of running, while other teams were still in  ‘shakedown’ mode, focusing on reliability, systems checks, and getting to grips with the new-for-2026 regulations.

“From a reliability perspective, it's been a good week for us. The car has enabled us to run the programme exactly as we wanted each of the three days and that's what we hoped for coming here to Barcelona,” Mercedes’ trackside engineer director Andrew Shovlin said.

“It is a huge testament to the hard work of everyone at Brackley and Brixworth in bringing this car to life. We've also made good progress with some of the challenges we saw on days one and two and that is pleasing.   

“That said, in Barcelona we have only really been focused on proving out the W17. In Bahrain, we will switch to set-up exploration which you can't do here when it is so cold. That will give us a much better idea of the car's relative abilities as we progress towards the 2026 season.”

Additionally, Mercedes also boast a bank of knowledge from the fact two of their three customer teams McLaren and Alpine have been racking up the miles with the new Mercedes HPP power unit in the back of their respective cars.

Mercedes had been tipped as the favourites for 2026 before a wheel was even turned, and the Barcelona test will have only further cemented those early predictions in many people’s eyes.