Liam Lawson says its “hard to know compared to everyone else where we’re at” when asked about the new Red Bull-Fors PU as he completed his first test day at Barcelona with the 2026 VCARB.
Lawson continues to drive for VCARB in the 2026 season following his demotion from Red Bull early last year. He enters 2025 as the most experienced driver on the team, lining up against rookie Arvid Lindblad.
Lawson’s feedback will be the most crucial for VCARB as they develop throughout the season, given his experience in F1, the 2025 cars, and Super Formula.
He will be the lead driver, guiding the team’s development based on his feedback and aiding his rookie teammate.
Lawson said to F1TV media: “It feels good, honestly, so far, but it’s very hard to tell. The main thing is reliability, and we’ve done a good amount of laps.”
Audi driver Gabriel Bortoleto says the team has already “learned a lot” about the new PU despite encountering “expected” issues.
Audi is another team testing their PU as they enter F1 for the first time as both team and PU manufacturer, compared to Mercedes’, Ferrari’s and Honda’s decades.
The German manufacturer took over the Stake Kick Sauber operations at the end of the 2025 season, though the team have been working on the 2026 PU for several years and the car since 2024.
Bortoleto enters his second season of F1 this year, to his teammate Nico Hulkenberg’s 16th.
Speaking to F1TV media after his first run out in the car, the Brazilian driver said: “As expected for a shakedown, we ran into a couple of issues that limited our running, but that’s part of the process and exactly why we are here.
“We’ve already learned a lot from the laps we did.”
Kimi Antonelli believes Mercedes did a really good job on the 2026 power unit, as Mercedes’ PU does over a thousand laps across the Barcelona shakedown.
Mercedes supplies four teams this season: Mercedes, McLaren, Williams and Alpine.
Despite Williams’ absence from Barcelona, Mercedes managed to rack up 1134 laps in total across all their cars with the PU, with the works team completing the most.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri said the team have been working closely with Mercede’s PU department to give data and feedback to ensure the best running for both teams using the PU.
Kimi Antonelli, who is going into his second season with the Silver Arrows, said to F1TV media: “Driveability, which was a big question mark, seems to be good so far.
“Obviously its early days, that’s why with more running we will learn more about the car and the PU.”
Image Credit: By Steffen Prößdorf, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=152349606
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