Mercedes is set to roll out immediately on the first day of pre-season testing in Barcelona, GPblog can confirm.

After keeping its plans tightly guarded throughout the build-up, the Brackley-based team has now finalised its approach, with George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli scheduled to open their 2026 campaign on day one. The call has been made with weather conditions expected to be good enough for meaningful running.

With that decision, Mercedes joins Red Bull Racing, Racing Bulls and Alpine in heading out on the opening day, while McLaren and Ferrari have opted to delay their track debuts.

Pirelli has outlined the tyre compounds that will be available for the Barcelona test, along with a detailed breakdown of how many sets of each compound every team has selected.

At Montmeló, teams are allowed to run on three of the five days allocated for testing. Several have already confirmed they will skip the opening day, while the threat of rain could further complicate on-track programmes.

Running will be carried out on the C1, C2 and C3 compounds, which at this circuit correspond to the hard, medium and soft tyres respectively. Intermediate and full wet tyres will also be available should weather conditions demand them.

A look at the allocations highlights contrasting strategies across the grid. Red Bull has gone for a particularly aggressive approach, bringing 18 sets of the C3 soft and none of the C2 medium. Ferrari, by contrast, has opted for the opposite strategy, selecting just three sets of softs while committing to 12 sets of the medium compound.