McLaren make 2026 Formula 1 track debut with MCL40 on Day 3 of Barcelona test

Aside from Williams, who will not make the trip to Barcelona following struggles with the development of their car, and Aston Martin, who will start running on Thursday, McLaren was the only team not to run a 2026 car so far.

While Mercedes, Red Bull Racing, Racing Bulls, Alpine, Haas, Cadillac, and Audi started running on Monday, Ferrari joined the action on Tuesday despite bad weather conditions.

McLaren will kick off their testing with Lando Norris at the wheel of the MCL40 that will be wearing a special testing livery before the reveal of the racing one on February 9.

While only Ferrari and Red Bull Racing tested on Day 2, all the other teams were back in action on Wednesday, while the Milton Keynes squad will not take part as they revise their running plan following Isack Hadjar's crash on Tuesday, with the team's RB22 sustaining damage.

Aside from Audi and Cadillac, all the other teams have impressed so far with the mileage they have accumulated in a stark contrast to what we saw back in 2014 at the start of the first V6 turbo-hybrid era, a point Mercedes' George Russell was keen to point out.

As for the new teams, their performance so far shows that getting up to speed in the pinnacle of motorsport will not be a walk in the park. Audi has only 27 laps on the board so far, while Cadillac has 44.

And at the time of writing of these words, Nico Hulkenberg brought out the first Red Flag of Day 3 of testing after his Audi stopped out on track between Turns 9 and 10.

Red Bull, on the other hand, have been impressive with their first-ever F1 power unit, the DM01 (names after late Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz).

They have racked up over 190 laps on Day 1 between Red Bull and Racing Bulls while adding over 75 laps on Day 2.