Inside Day 5 of Barcelona F1 Testing: Key moments and talking points

The fifth and final day of the Barcelona Shakedown concluded at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, bringing an end to five days of running as Formula 1 teams wrapped up early on-track preparations.

Under dry and sunny conditions, multiple cars took to the circuit as teams completed their allocated mileage and gathered final data ahead of the next phase of the pre-season.

Busy morning running across the grid

Friday’s action began with Valtteri Bottas and Ollie Bearman leading the early running for Cadillac and Haas. They were soon joined by Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Audi rookie Gabriel Bortoleto.

Aston Martin also added to its programme as Fernando Alonso made his first shakedown appearance, extending the AMR26’s track time following Lance Stroll’s outing on Thursday.

By midday, Bearman had logged an especially high lap count, while Piastri, Leclerc and Gasly also completed substantial mileage as teams focused on reliability runs rather than outright performance.

Driver swaps shape the afternoon

Several teams rotated their line-ups for the afternoon session. Lando Norris took over driving duties at McLaren, Lewis Hamilton stepped into the Ferrari, Esteban Ocon returned for Haas and Nico Hulkenberg completed Audi’s final runs.

As the session progressed, Gasly continued to rack up laps, while Verstappen, Norris, Hamilton, Ocon and Hulkenberg all remained active until the chequered flag ended both Day 5 and the shakedown.

Team participation and what’s next

All teams apart from Williams participated in the Barcelona Shakedown, with the Grove-based outfit confirming it will be ready for official pre-season testing in Bahrain.

Mercedes and Racing Bulls completed their programmes earlier in the week, while most teams concluded their final runs on Friday. Aston Martin ran on only two days after debuting on Thursday.

Attention now shifts to team launches, with Mercedes and Williams unveiling on February 2 and 3, followed by Cadillac, McLaren and Aston Martin. Official pre-season testing begins in Bahrain from February 11-13, with a second test scheduled for February 18-20.