It is always exciting to see the new F1 cars running on the track for the first time. With only minor regulation changes and the final season with the current regulation, the car designs reached maturity. While there are still visible and many invisible differences, there is also a sensible convergence between cars and performance.
It means that this year, the pecking order will be considerably tighter and probably more different drivers will climb to the podiums.
The competition between McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull will be fierce. Where Aston Martin, Alpin, Racing Bulls, Sauber and Hass will fit in the order remains to be seen. Hass opted to maintain the structure of last year’s card, and while they had a solid run of 160 laps, Esteban Ocon led the pack with a remarkable 88 laps, I predict they will struggle the most to obtain points and are the leading candidates to be the bottom of the stack.
After the first day of running, McLaren seems to be the team to beat.
At the end of the day, Lando Norris was the fastest with a 1:30.430 lap time.
Kimi Antonelli seems to have accommodated in the Mercedes machinery, while Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz struggled more noticeably. It will be challenging for Lewis to keep up with the pace of Charles Leclerc, at least in the first couple of races.
Max Verstappen probably didn’t show his full hand, while Liam Lawson struggled a little bit. Max will be a contender for the driver title, but Red Bull will have issues keeping up with McLaren and Ferrari in the constructors title fight. It will be interesting to see how quickly Kimi Antonelli will adapt to F1 and if he will bring points consistently. I have no doubts that George Russell will be at the top of his game, and if Mercedes finally figures out the shortcomings of their car, George can be a serious title candidate.
Many things depend on which teams and how quickly they will shift their focus on developing the 2026 cars.
All together, it will be an exciting year with 24 races, including 10 sprint races as well.
Halfway through the afternoon session, as floodlights began to be required for vision, a regional power cut brought out the red flag and the cards back to the garages, causing over an hour of disruption.
01 Lando Norris, McLaren 1:30.430 (52)
02 George Russell, Mercedes 1:30.587 (70)
03 Max Verstappen, Red Bull 1:30.674 (74)
04 Charles Leclerc, Ferrari 1:30.878 (71)
05 Carlos Sainz, Williams 1:30.955 (68)
06 Pierre Gasly, Alpine 1:31.353 (72)
07 Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes 1:31.428 (78)*
08 Liam Lawson, Red Bull 1:31.560 (58)*
09 Alexander Albon, Williams 1:31.573 (63)*
10 Yuki Tsunoda, Racing Bulls 1:31.610 (77)*
11 Isack Hadjar, Racing Bulls 1:31.631 (76)
12 Gabriel Bortoleto, Kick Sauber 1:31.690 (59)
13 Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari 1:31.834 (70)*
14 Jack Doohan, Alpine 1:31.841 (68)*
15 Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin 1:31.874 (46)*
16 Lance Stroll, Aston Martin 1:31.949 (42)
15 Oscar Piastri, McLaren 1:32.084 (65)*
16 Nico Hulkenberg, Kick Sauber 1:32.169 (55)*
19 Esteban Ocon, Haas 1:33.600 (88)
20 Oliver Bearman, Haas 1:35.522 (72)*
*- The driver took part in the morning session. Lap counts in brackets.
