George Russell's Fastest Test Lap Time Compared to 2025 Speed Speaks Volumes

Mercedes have continued their strong showing during Formula One’s test in Barcelona ahead of the new 2026 season.

Teams are currently participating in a five-day behind-closed-doors test event in Barcelona with new regulations coming into place for the new season.

Lando Norris will look to defend his maiden F1 crown for McLaren with Mercedes outlined as early favourites for the title and have started strong in the early tests.

Lap times are currently under a data bracket but unofficial times have been leaked and provided some clues as to who might lead the charge for the title when the season begins in March.

Some teams have not had an ideal start to the campaign with Williams missing the test entirely and Aston Martin taking part later than anticipated.

Mercedes look good value for money based on early unofficial lap times with both George Russell and Kimi Antonelli having good pace and reliability in the new Mercedes power unit.

Mercedes have posted good numbers in the unofficial lap times (Getty)

Russell posted his quickest time of 1:17.580s during Wednesday’s session which Antonelli bettered to run quickest on Thursday with an unofficial best time of 1:17:081s during his run of 90 laps according to The Race.

When compared to the quickest time of the 2025 race in Barcelona, the data is interesting. Oscar Piastri was the victor in Spain with a quickest race time of 1:15.743s meaning Antonelli was just 1.338 slower than last season’s title contender on the same track.

Antonelli’s time also means Mercedes have gone quicker during the test event than their best race lap from last year’s Spanish Grand Prix - suggesting lap times would be similar to the previous generation of cars.

Of course, there are a number of factors that could impact the unofficial test figures and on-track pace during the first race of the calendar could be vastly different.

Cars will be packed with sensors to give the team vital data which will make the cars heavier than they would be when in race-mode.

Teams will also have the chance to put their cars through their paces during the upcoming annual test event in Bahrain with more than three weeks between the first day of testing in Barcelona and the last day of testing in Bahrain meaning there is still time for more developments to be made.