F1’s secretive ‘Barcelona Shakedown’ test kicks off with new cars and no fans

By Canadian Press on January 26, 2026.

Ten new cars, five days, no fans. And plenty of security.

Formula 1 started a new era with the public and the media excluded from the teams’ reliability-focused private testing session in Spain on Monday.

In an era when F1 fans have become used to getting all the details on drivers and teams, the most extensive test of the all-new 2026 cars began with a sign of just how private this week will be. A group including journalists was moved from a vantage point outside the circuit with a view of the track.

“The journalists, content creators, photographers and fans who were asked to move away were located on private property,” the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya said in a statement. “For this reason, security staff and the police requested that they leave the area.”

It’s hard to imagine a bigger contrast to last year’s lavish launch party that involved 16,000 fans and famous faces in London.

Cadillac hits the track

Kimi Antonelli was first out on track for Mercedes, F1 said, while Red Bull’s new engine also drew interest.

“Obviously it’s early days and with the running we will discover a lot more about the car and the (power unit),” Antonelli said after a day which saw Mercedes rack up 151 laps, more than twice the distance of last year’s Spanish Grand Prix at the same venue.

Joining the established teams on track was a milestone for Cadillac ahead of its debut F1 season.

“It’s great to be back,” said Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas, who last raced in F1 in 2024. “We had some issues throughout the day. It’s debugging, that’s why we’re here, and it seems like every team had some issues.”

Audi, renamed from Sauber and making its own engine for the first time, hit “a couple of problems” and stopped on the track Monday morning, driver Gabriel Bortoleto said.

The 11th team, Cadillac, was on track but only 10 will be testing in Spain after Williams encountered delays with its car. Defending champion McLaren chose not to run Monday, nor did Ferrari. Aston Martin said its car will arrive “later this week” and won’t be on the track until at least Thursday.

Without live TV coverage or official results it’s tricky to gauge who’s got a head start on the new regulations. The second test in Bahrain next month is when the focus switches to performance.

Communications blackout

So, why can’t fans see the new cars on track?

F1 originally referred to this week’s event as a “private test” but now calls it the “Barcelona Shakedown,” a term usually used for short-distance runs to check basic reliability, not the sort of multi-day extended tests in Spain.

The teams are in charge of the closed Barcelona event, an addition to the usual preseason testing program amid concerns that some all-new designs might not be reliable enough to make a positive first impression.

Bahrain has a long-running agreement to hold preseason testing and its warm weather is more representative of real races. The blackout in Barcelona may put more attention on Bahrain, which has the first live TV coverage of cars doing timed laps.

Some teams, like Ferrari, have revealed 2026 designs and given them brief track time using exemptions for distance-limited promotional events, but plan major changes before the first race in Australia in March. McLaren is unusual for signaling its Barcelona design will be close to race specification. Team principal Andrea Stella said last week McLaren wanted to skip the first day of the test for extra development time.

What can go wrong?

Teams can run on three out of five days, giving them time to fix problems. With all-new engines, battery systems and smaller, lighter cars, reliability is a bigger concern than it has been for years.

The last time the rules changed this much, the first preseason test was a disaster.

Cars broke down frequently on the first day of testing at Spain’s Jerez circuit in 2014, as teams got to grips with the new turbocharged hybrid V6 engines, and Lewis Hamilton beached his Mercedes in a gravel trap. The problems eventually shook out over the season and the British driver ended the year as champion.

Monday was a step up on 2014 in terms of reliability, Mercedes driver George Russell suggested in a statement.

“The sport has evolved so much since then and the level, in every single aspect, is so high now,” he said.

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

James Ellingworth, The Associated Press