Sky Sports legend Ted Kravitz has pointed out one impressive detail about Red Bull's 2026 car during the secretive pre-season testing in Barcelona.
With the highly-anticipated 2026 Formula One season rapidly approaching, the majority of the teams have now unveiled their cars and started their pre-season testing.
Ahead of two televised weekends of testing at the Bahrain International Circuit in mid-February, teams from across the grid have been testing behind closed doors at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
The tests in Barcelona are taking place across five days, starting on January 26 and ending on January 30, with every team except Williams expected to participate in at least one session.
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Although media access to the tests has been limited, Sky Sports reporter Kravitz has been present, and he's made a big claim about Red Bull's 2026 car.
In the opening day of testing in Barcelona, Isack Hadjar, who has been promoted to Red Bull from Racing Bulls for the 2026 season, impressed as he topped the timing sheets for the day.
Of course, it's hard to know exactly how hard each of the teams were pushing during testing given the secrecy surrounding the test.
However, it's not the speed of the Red Bull that impressed Kravitz during the opening day of testing, as he praised the car's reliability across an impressive 180 laps of testing.
Speaking during Sky Sports F1’s recap from the first day of testing in Barcelona, 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.
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“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.”
Speaking after the session, Hadjar told Formula One that the session was far more productive than expected and a perfect start to his Red Bull career, admitting : "It was pretty productive. Surprisingly, we managed to do a lot more laps than we expected. Everything went pretty smooth."
Following the opening day of testing, Red Bull star Max Verstappen is set to complete some laps in the brand new Red Bull, with fans eager to see if he will also top the timing sheets.
However, things initially didn't go to plan as frustrating weather conditions saw the four-time world champion drive into the gravel on his outlap, causing a five-minute delay.
Ferrari are also taking part in the second day of testing, with McLaren expected to take part after skipping Monday’s outing.
Topics: Formula 1, Motorsport, Red Bull Racing, Sky Sports
Ben McCrum