Hamilton’s last-gasp flyer puts Ferrari on top in Barcelona F1 finale

Lewis Hamilton pulled out the stops in Friday’s final session of this week’s Barcelona shakedown, the Ferrari driver ending the day – and the entire test – at the top of the timesheets.

The garage shutters were almost down and the clock was nearly spent when Ferrari through on a set of soft tyres on the seven-time world champion’s car. Suddenly the quiet, data-gathering hum of testing turned into a statement lap that cracked across the paddock.

A 1m16.348s flash of scarlet and intent.

A Late Strike That Shakes the Order

Hamilton’s last-gasp flyer vaulted him to the top of the unseen timesheets, knocking Lando Norris off his long-held perch and sneaking past George Russell’s earlier benchmark by a tenth of a second.

In testing terms, it meant everything and nothing all at once.

Nobody sensible will crown champions on Barcelona shakedown pace alone. Fuel loads are unknown, programmes are secret, and performance is still very much under wraps.

But optics matter, and after a bruising 2025 for both driver and team, this was a morale-boosting punch that landed cleanly and loudly.

Ferrari hadn’t just flirted with the top spot earlier in the day. Charles Leclerc had already dipped into the 1m16s in the morning. But Hamilton waited, watched, and then struck late, flexing the SF-26’s muscles when conditions were just right.

Ferrari’s Red Tide Rises

The headline time crowned a quietly strong week for Ferrari. Beyond the single lap, the new car pounded around the Catalan circuit with impressive reliability and mileage, building a foundation rather than chasing glory – until the very last moment.

Hamilton’s surge bumped Norris’ 1m16.594s McLaren effort into second and left Leclerc third, giving the Scuderia a one-three finish on the day’s order.

Oscar Piastri slotted his McLaren in fourth, while Max Verstappen, back in action after Red Bull’s enforced downtime, rounded out the top five despite a minor morning excursion at Turn 10.

Elsewhere, Fernando Alonso continued Aston Martin’s emotional rollout of its Newey-penned AMR26, logging 61 laps as the black machine steadily found its feet.

Pierre Gasly was the day’s workhorse, chalking up 160 laps for Alpine on his way to sixth. At the other end, Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas trailed the field, more than four seconds adrift as the new outfit focused on basics.

Notably absent were Mercedes, who had already completed their allocated running earlier in the week after setting the pace on the previous two days, along with Racing Bulls and, of course, Williams.

But the final word belonged to Ferrari’s new spearhead.

Hamilton’s lap will not guarantee victories, poles or titles. Yet as the SF-26 screamed past the timing line in the dying minutes, it felt like more than a test number. It felt like intent.

A reminder that when the opportunity appears, even in the most controlled and cautious of test weeks, Lewis Hamilton still knows exactly when to pull out the stops.

Barcelona Shakedown - Day 5

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