Barcelona Day 5: Lewis Hamilton puts Ferrari fastest on final day of first F1 2026 test
Image: Scuderia Ferrari HP (X)
Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton set the pace on the final day of the first pre-season test of F1 2026 in Barcelona.
Hamilton set the quickest time of the five-day test in the closing minutes of Friday’s running, clocking an an unofficial fastest lap of 1:16.348 to beat the previous best time set by Mercedes driver George Russell on Thursday.
Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari fastest as Barcelona test concludes
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McLaren driver Lando Norris ended the day in second with Hamilton’s Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc third after carrying out the team’s running in the morning.
A number of teams made driver changes ahead of the final afternoon of running at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Norris took over from Oscar Piastri at McLaren with Hamilton replacing Leclerc at Ferrari.
Meanwhile, Nico Hulkenberg stepped into the Audi cockpit after Gabriel Bortoleto carried out the team’s running on Friday morning. Esteban Ocon also replaced Oliver Bearman in the Haas after the break.
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Norris, the reigning world champion, provided the first real indication of the McLaren’s MCL40’s pace with around 90 minutes left on the clock on Friday.
Norris posted an unofficial time of 1:16.594 to set the fastest lap of the day at that stage, falling just 0.149 seconds shy of Russell’s Thursday lap.
The McLaren driver is then understood to have turned his attention to a long run before several teams turned to soft tyres for qualifying simulations in the final 15 minutes.
The final exchanges saw Hamilton post a 1:16.348, a lap 0.097s faster than Russell’s previous benchmark of 1:16.445.
Hamilton’s time was also just 0.605s slower than the fastest lap of last year’s Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona, set by Piastri.
Red Bull was back on track on Friday having failed to appear since Isack Hadjar’s accident in the closing stages of Day 2.
Max Verstappen recorded the most laps of any driver on Friday with 118 on the board, with the four-time world champion fifth on the leaderboard.
Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso made his first appearance of F1 2026 testing behind the wheel of the striking Aston Martin AMR26.
Alonso completed a total of 49 laps, claiming 11th place on the leaderboard, one spot ahead of Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas.
Mercedes and Racing Bulls did not participate in Friday’s running in Barcelona, where all teams were restricted to a maximum of three days of testing over the course of five days.
Both teams reached their permitted three days of running on Thursday, meaning they were prevented from taking to the track at all on the final day.
A report of the Day 5 morning session from Barcelona is available at the bottom of this article.
F1 testing: Unconfirmed lap times from Day 5 in Barcelona
1 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:16.348 63 laps
2 Lando Norris McLaren 1:16.594 83 laps
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:16.653 78 laps
4 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:17.446 80 laps
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:17.586 118 laps
6 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:17.707 160 laps
7 Esteban Ocon Haas 1:18.393 85 laps
8 Oliver Bearman Haas 1:18.423 106 laps
9 Nico Hulkenberg Audi 1:19.870 78 laps
10 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi 1:20.179 66 laps
11 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:20.795 49 laps
12 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac 1:20.920 54 laps
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