Ferrari drivers Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc joined four-time world champion Max Verstappen in making their 2026 preseason debuts in a quieter second day of testing.
F1’s private test at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya continued on Tuesday during a week where teams are allowed to run for a maximum of three out of the five available days.
After seven took to the track on Monday, it was just Ferrari and Verstappen’s Red Bull team who opted to do so on Tuesday, with a forecast of inclement weather putting off the rest from doing so.
Reigning world champions McLaren did not hit the track, but they are still set to hit the normal allocation of testing should they make their debut on Wednesday.
Leclerc was joined on track by Verstappen in a quiet morning session — those drivers then handed over to their teammates, Hamilton and Isack Hadjar, respectively in the afternoon.
As is the case all week, public information was scarce in the behind-closed-doors event, but pictures emerged of Ferrari and Red Bull both on track with intermediate wet tyres fitted to their cars, highlighting the conditions for much of the day.
ESPN understands Verstappen briefly triggered a red flag when he went off track during the morning session, but his car escaped without any damage and it did not appear to affect the team’s plan for the day.
While it marked Red Bull’s second straight day of testing, it was the first appearance of the Ferrari SF-26 this week — it had made a brief public outing last Friday at the team’s Firoano circuit.
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Leclerc continued the early optimism that has surrounded the launch of the team’s new car.
Speaking to F1 TV after finishing his own stint, Leclerc said: “I’m very excited. I’m very excited to see what the others have in store and when we start pushing a little bit more, see where we are compared to the others.
“I think this year is a big opportunity for every team to do something different and to maybe gain bigger advantage than what we’ve seen in the last few years.
“I hope we are the team that will manage to make the difference. But wherever we start, we will push at the maximum to try and bring Ferrari back to the top. It’s been quite a few years, so I hope that this one is ours.”
Mercedes was one of the team’s who opted not to run on Tuesday, but the German manufacturer’s outfit has become the early favourite ahead of the Australian Grand Prix on March 8.
