Formula 1 Shakedown Day 3 – Lando Norris takes to track with WC 1 on the MCL40

Mercedes kept its 2026 momentum rolling on Wednesday, January 28, 2026, logging heavy mileage during the Barcelona shakedown as Kimi Antonelli and George Russell put in another clean, productive day — while Lando Norris finally unveiled McLaren’s new MCL40 on track, complete with the champion’s No.1 on the nose.

With lap times from the behind-closed-doors test not officially published, most teams are treating this week as a blunt-but-valuable health check: power unit behaviour, cooling, hydraulics, electronics, and getting comfortable with the feel of a new-generation car. Even so, the early story remains the same — Mercedes looks organised and durable, two traits that matter more than a headline stopwatch number at this stage.

Unofficial figures circulating in the paddock had Antonelli producing the best lap of the shakedown so far with a 1:17.362 in the afternoon, after Russell earlier moved the benchmark to 1:17.580. More important, Mercedes were understood to have completed 183 laps on the day, the highest total among the six teams running on Wednesday, continuing what has been a quietly strong opening to the new rules cycle.

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Andrew Shovlin, Mercedes’ trackside engineering director, pointed to mileage as the key win: the car has been reliable enough for multiple longer runs, and both drivers have spoken positively about the “smaller, lighter” feel compared to the previous generation — a theme you’ll hear repeatedly until the sport reaches more representative running later in pre-season.

Norris returns — and McLaren’s MCL40 finally breaks cover

McLaren’s first proper 2026 headline arrived when Norris took over driving duties after sitting out the opening two days. The reigning champion rolled out just before the session’s third hour and banked 74 laps on the MCL40’s debut, with his best unofficial time believed to be 1:18.307, putting him third on the day’s informal order.

Norris described it as a “figure it out” day more than anything else — learning the systems, getting a feel for driveability, and confirming the car is doing what it should. In short: the kind of low-drama first run teams dream of, especially given how tightly packaged and new these 2026 cars are.

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Haas and Audi interrupted as reliability remains the real target

Not everyone enjoyed an interruption-free day. Haas lost time in the morning when Oliver Bearman stopped on track and triggered red flags, though the team later returned and finished with 42 laps. Audi also had another on-track stoppage — its second in as many running days — before Nico Hülkenberg rejoined after garage work and ended Wednesday with 68 laps.

Alpine split running between Franco Colapinto in the morning and Pierre Gasly in the afternoon, while Racing Bulls gave British rookie Arvid Lindblad a long stint of work that pushed him beyond the 100-lap mark as the team gathered data on its new package.

Red Bull’s senior team sat out Wednesday following damage sustained in Tuesday’s wet running, while Aston Martin still hadn’t appeared, though chatter around the paddock suggests its first Adrian Newey-designed car has arrived in Spain and could run as early as Thursday.

What it means for betting markets (without overreacting)

It’s tempting to turn any quick lap into a futures swing, but Barcelona shakedown pace is notoriously noisy. What does translate, even this early, is execution: teams that can run long, repeatable stints without gremlins usually give themselves a far better chance to hit the ground running once meaningful data arrives.