Lewis Hamilton set the fastest lap of the week for Ferrari on the concluding day of Formula 1's 2026 shakedown at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. The seven-time world champion clocked an unofficial 1m16.348s late on Friday, edging out McLaren's Lando Norris and his teammate Charles Leclerc. Mercedes led the overall mileage with over 500 laps across the event.
The five-day Barcelona shakedown for the 2026 Formula 1 season wrapped up on Friday with a smooth session featuring no red flags. Lewis Hamilton, making his Ferrari debut in the new SF-26, switched to soft tyres late in the afternoon to post the quickest time of 1m16.348s over 67 laps, surpassing George Russell's previous benchmark of 1m16.4s from Thursday.
Earlier, Charles Leclerc topped the morning timesheet with a 1m16.653s lap across 78 laps, 0.793s ahead of McLaren's Oscar Piastri, who completed 80 laps and noted a smoother day after Thursday's fuel issue. "It was good," Piastri said. "Nice to get some good laps on the board this morning, much smoother day than the first two we've had, so that was nice. I got into a pretty good rhythm and was able to start to feel what the car's actually like."
Lando Norris, the reigning champion, followed with 1m16.594s over 86 laps in the afternoon, while Max Verstappen returned for Red Bull, logging 118 laps with a best of 1m17.586s after the team recovered from Isack Hadjar's Tuesday crash.
Mercedes amassed the most mileage at over 500 laps across three days, including Andrea Kimi Antonelli's full race simulation. Their power unit, powering Mercedes, McLaren, and Alpine, covered around 1,000 laps total. Ferrari's engine ranked second, with the team completing 170 laps on Thursday alone.
Ferrari principal Fred Vasseur called the shakedown a "very good first step," emphasizing the importance of mileage amid the new regulations. Leclerc, warming to the "super interesting" 2026 cars, highlighted the steep learning curve but remained positive about the massive checklist ahead. The next tests are in Bahrain from February 11-13.
