Barcelona Test 2026 day-4: Mercedes at the top, Aston Martin debuts but stops immediately. Very reliable Ferrari

Mercedes still on top, McLaren down The fourth and penultimate day of shakedown testing in Barcelona has ended. Today was the big day for Aston Martin, which finally sent the highly anticipated AMR26 designed by Adrian Newey onto the track. The British single-seater had to wait a long time, approaching the track for the first installation laps – with Canadian Lance Stroll at the wheel – only at 5.01pm, an hour before the end of the session. The enthusiasm in the green garage, however, was short-lived: just before the checkered flag, Stroll’s car stopped on the track, causing a red flag which ended day 4 early. In terms of laps and times, however, this Thursday also smiled above all on the Mercedes: Antonelli was the fastest driver in the morning and the one with the most laps completed and George Russell did even better in the afternoon, beating the Italian’s time by 6 tenths. Russell also completed 78 laps, being surpassed in the afternoon session only by Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc. The reds are the other ones promoted on this day-4: 87 laps for Hamilton in the morning, 83 for Leclerc in the afternoon and the satisfaction – obviously partial and not very significant, but which he willingly puts away in the meantime – of having recorded the best times after those of the silver arrows. In Maranello it seems that there is no lack of reliability. In Bahrain, at this point, we will be able to focus on starting to look for performance with greater continuity. Bad day instead, at McLaren. Oscar Piastri, driver designated for this day, completed 48 laps in the morning but remained in the pits all afternoon, never returning to the track with his MCL40. In fact, the papaya team found a problem with the fuel system on the #81 car which they hope can be resolved tomorrow for the last day of work. Great anticipation for tomorrow also for Red Bull: the Austrian team should be able to get the RB22 back on track with Max Verstappen at the wheel. Barcelona test day-4: the results DriverTeamTimeLapsGeorge RussellMercedes1’16″44578Andrea Kimi Antonelli (morning)Mercedes+0″63690Charles LeclercFerrari+1″77883Oscar PiastriMcLaren+1″97448Arvid LindbladRacing Bulls+2″00647Lewis Hamilton (morning)Ferrari+2”20987Liam Lawson (morning)Racing Bulls+2”39564Sergio PerezCadillac+4”57966Lance StrollAston Martin+29”9595