It was a damp and cool morning at the Circuit de Catalunya as day 1 of F3 testing got underway ahead of the 2026 season.
Day 1 of testing sees replacements for injured drivers
Some drivers were unable to take part in testing due to injuries over the winter break. Tim Tramnitz replaces Michael Shin for Hitech as Shin was carrying a shoulder injury. Ernesto Rivera suffered from back pain sure to an injury over the winter break as Patrick Heuzenroeder took to the wheel for Campos.
The damp track ensured that teams started the day on the wet tyre, with Louis Sharp going fastest with a 1.43.903. His team mate James Wharton followed behind with just 0.260s separating the pair.
Red Flag
A red flag was presented as Fernando Barichello stopped on track. As the green light returned, the times kept tumbling. Hiyu
Yamakoshi put in a 1.41.900 and was then overtaken by Taito Kato with a 1.40.949.
DAMS Lucas Oil take a chance on slicks
As the track began to dry, DAMS Lucas Oil took the chance with slicks. However, this was short lived as many teams aborted the idea of slick runs.
Jin Nakamura topped the times in the mostly wet morning session followed by his Hitech team mate Tramitz.
Afternoon session begins
The afternoon session started off drier with all teams emerging from the pits on hard tyres. Taito Kato impressed once again clocking in with a lap time of 1.29.118. Taponen moved into P2
Enzo Deligny stopped on track brought out the red flag. However he was able to get the car back to the pitlane. Later in the session the red flag was raised again as Colnaghi got stuck in the gravel.
A disrupted session
With less than 60 minutes left in the session, we returned to green flag conditions. Unfortunately Kato stopped on track resulting in another red flag.
The disrupted session ended with Freddie Slater topping the time sheets with a 1.28.411 followed by Kanato Le and Ugo Ugochukwu.
F3 testing resumes tomorrow at 8am 9am local time.
Featured image credit: Formula Motorsport Limited