Ted Kravitz saw something ‘eye-catching’ from Red Bull during first day of F1’s Barcelona shakedown

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With the first day of the Barcelona shakedown now in the books, the 2026 F1 season has officially begun, and Ted Kravitz has noted what he found ‘eye-catching’ from Red Bull during their first laps of the new regulations.

Seven out of the 11 F1 teams on the grid made an appearance on-track during the inaugural day of running in Barcelona yesterday, with Ferrari and Aston Martin joining the reigning world champions of McLaren in sitting the first day out.

Of course, Williams aren’t joining the rest of their rivals for the shakedown after they failed to pass the FIA’s initial crash tests, which is a mandatory part of each team’s preparation for a new season of racing.

Isack Hadjar topped the timing sheets for Red Bull at the conclusion of the first day. It remains to be seen how comparable the lap times are to the rest of the teams that also clocked in some laps, given the secrecy surrounding the test.

• READ MORE: Isack Hadjar has just shown why Red Bull made the perfect choice to pair him with Max Verstappen

The first lap times of 2026 have been completed 👏 what are your impressions from day one of testing?

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Ted Kravitz made a note of Red Bull’s ‘eye-catching’ lap count from day one of the Barcelona shakedown

During Sky Sports F1’s recap from the first day of the Barcelona shakedown, pitlane reporter Ted Kravitz highlighted what he found ‘eye-catching’ in Red Bull’s data.

After joining the Austrian constructor in place of Yuki Tsunoda at the conclusion of last year’s campaign, Red Bull gave Hadjar a full day’s running in the RB22 ahead of his maiden season with the frontrunning team.

Kravitz said, “Lots of teams, when they did push their cars out of the garage, completed a lot of laps. And just to underline how many laps were done today, I mean, this is incredible.

“For a major rule change, the biggest in living memory, since the hybrid engines came in 2014, certainly. We’re not going to look at the lap times.

“These are unofficial times, I have to say, but we have cross-referenced them with the teams who have confirmed their individual times. So Hadjar was quickest for whatever that’s worth, with a 1:18.1.

“Half a tenth further back was George Russell. We believe that Russell’s time was on a C1, the hardest tyre, whereas Hadjar was not on the C1. With Colapinto, it was a good effort from him on a 1:20.1 with the times going down.

“But, 108 laps from Red Bull, that is eye-catching. And then 154 for Haas. And if you combine Antonelli and Russell, that’s 151. It’s incredible the way they’ve managed to get that running so reliably.”

With the upcoming season being the first for Red Bull running a completely in-house developed power unit, a lot of eyes were on the Milton Keynes-based outfit to see how it would hold up. It’s certainly looking promising.

• READ MORE: McLaren’s papaya rules might already cost Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri at Barcelona 2026 test

Change my mind: Isack Hadjar will compete for the 2026 F1 title

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The weather forecast saw a ‘surprising’ number of teams take part in the first day of the shakedown

As alluded to by Kravitz, the new regulations are one of the biggest regulatory overhauls in F1’s history, and some believed a repeat of the 2014 ‘PR disaster’ may have been incoming.

Only 93 laps across all the teams were completed on the first day back then, meaning that 2026 has already gotten off to a better start than the last new engine formula.

Kravitz highlighted the ‘surprising’ number of cars that took to the track on Monday, and Bernie Collins highlighted the weather forecast for the remainder of the week as a key factor in their decision.

She said, “There was quite a lot of talk that people were going to delay it later in the week. Let the track improve, give a little bit more build time.

“But when you look at the forecast for Barcelona, I think that’s a real reason people have got out on track today. The next three days carry quite a high risk of rain.

“So people are trying to get the very important first day in, get some niggles out of the way, which allows them some leeway to play with over the next few days and choose the best opportunities on track.”