F1 testing: Isack Hadjar crashes new Red Bull in Barcelona wet as McLaren wait until Wednesday
World champion McLaren, who said last week that he would run his new car for the first time on Tuesday or Wednesday, was not ready to run until the late hours of the morning session and decided to wait until Wednesday to run due to weather conditions. They will now take part in each of the final three days of the test.
Charles Leclerc raced for Ferrari in the morning and Lewis Hamilton in the afternoon, and between them they completed a total of 123 laps, just under two grand prix distances.
Leclerc said: “It wasn’t the best conditions because it was a bit rainy, but we did our program because we weren’t focused on performance.”
F1 has introduced revised rules for chassis, engines, tires and fuel this season; This means the cars are completely new and a much larger role for the hybrid part of the engine will make energy management a key factor in F1 this season.
However, Leclerc said it was “too early” to comment on the car’s behavior.
“We haven’t stressed any part of the car yet, it’s all about doing a proper system check on track.” “As we get more miles we’ll know more. The first feeling is that it’s going to be a little bit harder for us drivers to manage these things and then we’ll see if it makes things more exciting.”
“For now we have done the first preliminary checks of the car, everything went smoothly and we will go through the initial systems checklist and get to the most important thing, which is the performance. But that will probably come a little later in these three days and we will first try to understand how everything behaves.”
Ferrari has had a poor season in 2025 with both Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton failing to win a grand prix and is hoping the new rules will enable them to be more competitive.
“I’m very excited to see us start to push a little more to see what the others have in store and where we are compared to the others,” Leclerc said.
“This year is a great opportunity for each team to do something different and perhaps gain a greater advantage. I hope we are the team that can make the difference, but no matter where we start, we will push to the maximum to get Ferrari back to the top.”
