DEBRIEF: What happened on Day 2 of the Barcelona Shakedown?

The second day of the Barcelona Shakedown is now done and dusted, with more of the 2026 cars heading out on track at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. F1.com has rounded up all the details in our Day 2 debrief…

Which teams and drivers ran?

While Mercedes confirmed ahead of the morning session that they would not be running due to the weather forecast predicting rain, Ferrari were the first to emerge when Day 2 kicked off in Barcelona.

Charles Leclerc hit the track at the wheel of the SF-26 and went on to clock up some extensive mileage during his time in the Scuderia’s new challenger. And while he initially had the circuit to himself, Max Verstappen also headed out for some laps in the Red Bull RB22.

The rain arrived in the middle of the morning, leading to a brief lull on track – but Leclerc and Verstappen were not deterred, each going back out for more mileage in the damp conditions.

Following a lunch break, both Ferrari and Red Bull returned to action – this time with their other drivers on duty, with Lewis Hamilton and Isack Hadjar taking over from their respective team mates.

After both put in further laps during the afternoon, darkness started to fall at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Hamilton took the chance to complete some late running before the chequered flag fell on Day 2 of the Barcelona Shakedown.

Who is still to run?

Like Ferrari, McLaren announced prior to the event that they were not intending to run on Day 1, with Team Principal Andrea Stella stating that the squad would “start from either Day 2 or Day 3” and “test for three days”.

With the papaya cars not making an appearance on Tuesday, the team have since confirmed that they will begin their programme during Wednesday and will run on track for the final three days of the event, having said that the opening days “provided an important opportunity for the full car to be assembled and checked”.

Aston Martin are also yet to participate in the shakedown; while the British outfit were working on their car in the garage during Day 2, they previously stated that they intend to run on Thursday and Friday.

That just leaves Williams, who stated prior to the event that they will not be taking part.

What have the drivers said?

Following his extensive stint in Ferrari’s new challenger during the morning session, Leclerc admitted that it was “nice to be back in the car – back in a very, very all-new car, and very different to what we’ve been driving so far”.

“For now it’s all about trying to understand if everything is working properly, which it kind of did,” the Monegasque continued. “It’s not the best conditions because it’s been a little bit raining this morning, but actually we did our programme anyway because we’re not focused on performance whatsoever.

“We’re more about looking at all the systems that are new on this car and see if everything works as it should, and it did so that’s a positive, and then we’ll go through slowly our programme.”

Looking at the key takeaways from the team’s first day on track – and what their checklist will look like going forward – Leclerc continued: “I think for now, obviously being the first morning, we’ve gone through the very first preliminary check of the car.

“Everything went properly, and little by little we’ll just go through our checklist on the first systems to then eventually what matters most, which is performance. But this will come probably a bit later on in those three days and trying to understand first how everything behaves, and then see how it goes.”

Hamilton also shared his reflections following his time behind the wheel of the SF-26 in Barcelona, with the seven-time World Champion admitting that the changing weather conditions posed some difficulties.

“Very challenging today, because it started raining at 10.30am – obviously Charles had a little bit of dry running then it’s been wet all afternoon,” Hamilton explained. “Figuring out how to get the tyres working was really productive – I think we got 120 laps or something like that.

“Given it’s in the wet conditions and we had a red flag, I think that’s pretty solid, so I’m really proud of everyone back at the factory for getting the car to this point. We got a lot of information on the car today – we definitely need to keep it up, [there’s] lots and lots to do, but a good first day.”

In terms of how satisfying it was for the team to get a solid number of laps on the board straightaway, the Briton added: “I mean, it could be so much worse.

“It’s such a big regulation change, so to get through the day without too many major… there were no major issues, it’s just small little increments that we’re trying to improve on. I think it’s great. As I said, we just need to try and get some more days like this.”

What’s next?

Day 3 of the Barcelona Shakedown commences on Wednesday. As mentioned, this looks set to feature a maiden appearance from McLaren.

With teams permitted to run on any three days of the five-day event, this offers a degree of flexibility for some in selecting the next days that they participate in – meaning that programmes may vary across the pack.