Mercedes is raising the bar in the early stages of F1 2026 testing, with the team’s engineers impressed by the reliability of the new W17. Even the Brackley-based squad did not expect the car to perform so smoothly during the initial shakedown sessions.
The first three days of pre-season testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya have been eye-opening for Formula 1 as a whole, marking the debut of the new era cars. While the total mileage completed has already exceeded expectations, it is the Mercedes F1 team that has stood out for the reliability of its W17, even as more representative testing sessions are still to come. On the third day of testing, George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli each completed a full race distance, briefly topping the timesheets for the day ahead of the rest of the field, which included Lando Norris on the McLaren, running for the first time with the number 1 on the nose of his car.
Andrew Shovlin, Mercedes’ trackside engineering director, expressed satisfaction with the early progress, highlighting the team’s performance during the second day the W17 was on track. He explained that the car completed more than two race distances’ worth of mileage in a single day, exceeding expectations: “We’re pleased with the two out of three days that we’ve completed. We’ve achieved most of our objectives and covered more than two race distances in a single day, so we’re happy. The car was fast towards the end of the day, which is really encouraging. We’re even slightly ahead of where we expected in terms of mileage. Normally, you anticipate some initial reliability issues, but the car has run perfectly, and any time lost was due to red flags caused by other teams.”
Andrew Shovlin also commented on the ongoing data analysis, noting that while all systems on the car are new, the team is methodically resolving minor issues to ensure accuracy: “As for the data we’ve collected, we’re still reviewing it. Since all the systems are new, there are a few minor issues we’re resolving through careful data analysis to make sure everything is as accurate as usual. That said, we had a long list of objectives, and in fact, we are slightly ahead of where we thought we’d be after two days. The drivers? They’re happy with the car, which is more enjoyable to drive under the new regulations. It’s a bit lighter, and for them, it already feels quite good. We have a solid balance, both at low and high speeds. Ultimately, their satisfaction will depend on whether the car is competitive, and we expect to start seeing that perhaps on the final day, although realistically, Mercedes will fully assess that in the Bahrain F1 tests.”
With these early signs, Mercedes is showing that its preparation for the 2026 season is on track, with the W17 demonstrating both strong reliability and promising performance potential even in the opening days of testing.
As the sun sets on the final sessions in Spain, Mercedes appears to have laid the most stable foundation of the 2026 era so far. While lap times in January are rarely a perfect indicator of the pecking order, the mechanical robustness of the W17 has allowed the team to bypass the typical “teething problems” and move straight into fine-tuning the balance. If this early momentum carries over to the official tests in Bahrain, the Silver Arrows may well be the benchmark that the rest of the field will be chasing when the lights go out for the first race of the year.
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