Lewis Hamilton sets searing pace on final day of secret F1 2026 test

Lewis Hamilton produced the fastest lap time for Ferrari as F1 2026’s first week of testing drew to a close in Barcelona.

The seven-time world champion left it late to set a new benchmark as he strapped on a set of soft tyres and flexed the muscles of Ferrari’s SF-26 to pump in a lap time of 1m16.348 seconds.

Hamilton’s effort usurped the previous fastest time set by former Mercedes teammate George Russell on the penultimate day of the behind closed doors five-day shakedown by a tenth. 

While lap times alone should be taken with a rather large pinch of salt at this early stage, it will act as encouragement for both Ferrari and Hamilton that better times lie ahead after a bitterly disappointing 2025 campaign.

Ferrari not only topped the timesheets in Barcelona, but their 2026 car ran reliably and logged an impressive amount of mileage, something Hamilton alluded to after his first dry-weather running on Thursday.

Hamilton’s late glory run dislodged reigning world champion Lando Norris from top spot, where he had spent much of the afternoon having posted a 1m16.594s in his McLaren MCL40.

The 41-year-old Briton’s teammate, Charles Leclerc, who also dipped into the 1m16s with a soft tyre run in the morning session, ended up third-quickest ahead of Oscar Piastri's McLaren. 

Max Verstappen was finally able to resume testing for Red Bull, who sat out on the fourth day as they awaited spare parts following Isack Hadjar’s heavy shunt on Tuesday.

The four-time world champion recovered from a small off at Turn 10 in the morning to end up fifth-quickest with a lap of 1m17.586s.

Alonso gets first taste of Newey's Aston

Fernando Alonso stole attention early in the day as he got his first taste of Adrian Newey’s eye-catching Aston Martin AMR26, which made its highly-anticipated debut in the final hour of running on Thursday.

The two-time world champion managed a total of 61 laps with a best time of 1m20.795s to place himself 11th as he upped the pace for Aston Martin after their slow start.

Pierre Gasly completed the most laps of a single driver as he racked up 164 on a productive day in his Mercedes-powered Alpine on his way to sixth in the timesheet. 

Valtteri Bottas was 12th and slowest for Cadillac, over four seconds off the pace.

Early 2026 favourites Mercedes, who topped the timesheets on Thursday and Friday, were not in action on Friday having already completed their three permitted days of running in a statement opening test.

Aside from Mercedes, Racing Bulls and Williams - who missed the first week of testing after encountering build delays with their FW48 - the other eight teams were on track to end their respective programmes.

F1 will next head to Bahrain for two official pre-season tests on 11-13 and 18-20 February.