Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Wednesday, 28 January

Find out what happened on Day 1 of the pre-season Shakedown in Barcelona, and get the thoughts of McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 driver Lando Norris and Chief Designer Rob Marshall.

McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team’s 2026 challenger, the MCL40, today made its on-track debut at Formula 1’s Shakedown in Barcelona. This follows two days of fine-tuning and preparation to ensure that the MCL40 was in the best possible condition to maximise running time across the three permitted running days.

Defending 2025 FIA Formula 1 Drivers’ World Champion Lando Norris sported No.1 on the nose of his car as he returned to the cockpit for the first time since Abu Dhabi last year. This is the first time a McLaren car has run the No.1 since Jenson Button in 2010.

Lando recorded a productive 77 laps for the team’s first day of running, covering 358.589km in total.

Due to the complexity of the car under the new regulations introduced for the 2026 season, the MCL40 has undertaken a number of tests and checks across the opening two days in Barcelona. This involves valuable time and learning from team members across all departments at McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team, with new machinery and designs throughout influenced by the various changes and developments in chassis, electronics, power unit, and tyres.

What has also become even clearer as we’ve run today is our assumption prior to the test on the importance of time on track. With many variables in terms of power unit configurations, aerodynamic configurations and racing modes, there is a lot to learn about the 2026 regulation set. With every lap we complete, we learn more and more about how to extract the maximum performance from our package and gain valuable insight into the MCL40. This underlines the importance of ensuring the MCL40 was in the best possible condition to run over these three days.

The conclusion of today’s session aligns with the team’s scheduled pre-season preparation plans and objectives, with them making full and effective use of the flexibility in this week’s shakedown programme.

Oscar Piastri will take the wheel of the MCL40 tomorrow as the team continue to execute their programmed run plan.

Lando Norris

Laps	77 (222.817 miles/358.589km)
Best lap time	1m18.307s (+0.727s), 3rd

“It felt great to be back on track and see the No.1 on the car, which is a surreal moment for me. Getting out there was a significant moment for the entire team, with it being the first time our car under the new regulations has been on track. Thank you to everyone for getting us to this point.

“It was a productive and positive first day. Our aim was to gain an initial understanding of the new car, check that all systems work, and gather some baseline data for the engineers. With any regulation change, it takes time to figure everything out, but I am feeling good about how the day went, and I’m looking forward to getting more laps in on Friday.”

Rob Marshall
Chief Designer

“Our first day of track here in Barcelona was very productive with the MCL40 running well. Our main focus was shaking down the car, getting as much information as we could from it, and giving us the opportunity to get a better understanding of how it runs, as the new regulations present us with an entirely new car.

“From a design perspective, the new regulations have been a massive task, so it was a great moment to see it roll out of the garage for the first time. We’ve been able to get a more holistic understanding of the car’s systems, and seen how components interact in a trackside condition, as well as getting important driver feedback, now that Lando has physically driven the car. This foundational knowledge will help us when we come to Bahrain, where we’ll focus more on dialling the car in. Overall, it’s been a good day, and we look forward to seeing Oscar in the car tomorrow.”