After the second day of testing in the 2026 F1 Barcelona shakedown, Mercedes’ Andrew Shovlin admitted the Brackley-based team is impressing with the stability and consistency of their runs so far.
Not only fast, but reliable as well
Mercedes topped the testing charts on Day 3 and Day 4. Drivers George Russell and Kimi Antonelli had completed a rather shockingly high number of laps on their first outing, 149. Both drivers got a long run in as well.
Consequently, Shovlin was rather satisfied with his team’s performance, and especially the stability of the new generation of power unit displayed at the 2026 F1 Barcelona Shakedown, as he commented on the importance of the considerably important days.
”Well, pretty pleased with today, and obviously two days down out of three. We have more or less ticked all our objectives from the first and the second. Really please with how the car has gone today.
”We have managed to do over two race distances with it, both drivers are feeling that now. But the car was going strong at the end, so that was really encouraging.”
Plenty of data collected
Due to the lack of own reliability issues, with not a single red flag caused by a Mercedes driver, the team managed to collect and secure far more data than expected, leaving the Brit ecstatic. He also highlighted the importance of having a significant data sample this early in the season with such a new challenger, as those can be used to tweak and improve the team simulator.
”Mileage-wise we are a bit ahead of where we had hoped to be, so that’s good. Normally you expect to have a few teething problems. the odd reliability thing that costs you track time.
”Today the car worked faultlessly. We are actually losing more track time from other people breaking down and causing red flags than for anything on our side. In terms of data gathered we’re getting there.
”But as all the electrical systems are new, there is still quite a few issues that we’re bottoming out with collecting the data and making sure that everything is as accurate as we normally have it. But as I’ve said it we have had a long list of objectives, and if anything were slightly ahead of where we expected to be on day two.”
Multiple reasons for happiness
The drivers as well, in his opinion, have plenty of reasons to be content about the debuting W17, taking into account the considerable improvement in drivability compared to the previous generation of race cars. Car handling plays definitely a key factor in securing positive results, however it won’t be enough without attention to speed, pace and all-around performance, he added.
”They both sounded pretty positive at the end of their days today. aim mean, there happy with the car. It’s a nicer thing to drive than the previous regulations. It’s a bit lighter. It turns quite nicely for them. We have got a decent balance, low and high speed. But ultimately whether they’re happy or not will come down to whether they’re quick.
”I think we’ll start to see what people can do maybe in that final day. But realistically that work is going to be pushed into Bahrain.”
What in store for Mercedes in their third day of the 2026 F1 Barcelona Shakedown, according to Shovlin?
After dedicating the allotted initial part of Mercedes’s F1 Barcelona Shakedown track time to longer runs, which allowed more data collection and race simulations, Shovlin declared that their next step would be shifting to qualifying and faster laps simulations.
”Today we were focusing more just in proving out the reliability, the longer run work. Final day, we’re going to get stuck into a bit of set up work, trying to just explore what we can do with thetools available, trying to get the car dialled in a bit better. As well, working in the softer range of the tyres, we will do a bit of that with both and that will give us a load of information to take back to analyse ahead of Bahrain.
”We can do more work with the race drivers on the simulator, making sure that that correlates well. But if tomorrow goes as well as today did , and the first day, it’ll have been a very good test.”
