Formula 1: what Gabriel Bortoleto's first day of testing was like in 2026 - News Room USA

The 2026 Formula 1 season has kicked off. In Barcelona, the teams held the first day of the so-called “Shakedown” this Monday (26/1). Brazilian Gabriel Bortoleto’s Audi was on the track for the first contact between driver and car. THE Sporting News provides details about how the training went.

What was Gabriel Bortoleto’s first day of testing like in 2026?

The Brazilian was the second to leave the garage, after Kimi Antonelli opened the day’s activities for Mercedes. He had completed approximately 27 laps when he stopped on the track, at turn 11, causing the second red flag of the session. Earlier, Franco Colapinto had also stopped, at turn 10.

Bortoleto suffered from technical problems. To “Motorsport.com”, Audi assured that “they detected a problem and decided to stop the car on the track as a precaution. We identified the issue and will fix it for the rest of the week”.

– It’s an initial test – anything can happen, and we hope to find problems here and there in the car. We encountered some problems that unfortunately took us out of the race in the morning, so I didn’t drive much today. But it was expected, that kind of thing – we are finding out everything now so, hopefully, we don’t encounter the same problems in the next test or the first race of the year – said Bortoleto.

MORE: Audi F1 launches Bortoleto car for 2026; check out photos and videos

Unofficial classification

According to Sky SportsHadjar was the one who “led” the first series of tests, with a best time of 1min18s159. Stopping on the 28th lap, Bortoleto had the second “worst” time.