AS IT HAPPENED: Follow the action from Day 3 of pre-season testing in Barcelona

Next up: Melbourne, Australia 🇦🇺

16:03

Round 1 is coming your way in just two weeks' time. Join us from March 6-8 for the season-opener Down Under!

In the meantime, keep up to date with all the F2 news and reaction on our official website and social media

🏁Pre-season is over!🏁

16:00

And that is that. We are all done for testing!

Here is your final top 10:

1 - Shields - 1:26.269 2 - Leon - 1:26.308 3 - Fittipaldi - 1:26.351 4 - Herta - 1:27.869 5 - Maini - 1:28.582 6 - Miyata - 1:28.788 7 - Inthraphuvasak - 1:28.873 8 - Boya - 1:28.942 9 - Camara - 1:29.076 10 - Van Hoepen - 1:29.135

🟢And we're back to green🟢

15:56

A quick stoppage and there's one last chance to get back out there

🔴RED FLAG🔴

15:54

We have one final Red Flag with van Hoepen stopped on the main straight

Shields P1, Leon goes to P2

15:50

The Campos driver improves to within 0.039s of Shields with under 10 minutes to go

15 minutes remain🚨

15:45

Final call to all teams: this is your last chance to get out there before we go racing in Australia!

Fittipaldi takes over

15:30

A 1:26.351 puts Fittipaldi ahead and up to P1 with AIX holding a 1-2 into the final half hour of running

Shields to the front

15:27

The AIX driver hits the front with a 1:26.671

Into the final hour ⏱️

15:06

Less than one hour remains of pre-season testing. Maini remains at the top of the timing screens with his earlier effort

Camara improves

14:52

The Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy talent improves with a string of strong laps, now on a 1:29.076 in third position

Race run focus

14:30

The teams are very much focused on long running, practice pitstops and lengthy stints as opposed to single-lap pace this morning

Your top five after the first hour:

14:07

1 - Maini - 1:28.582 2 - Inthraphuvasak - 1:28.873 3 - Van Hoepen - 1:29.135 4 - Dunne - 1:29.362 5 - Camara - 1:29.435

ART 1-2

14:01

Kush Maini and Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak deliver their first times of the afternoon and go first and second respectively, with 1:28.582 now the time to beat

Rodin arrive at the top

13:49

Alexander Dunne puts in a 1:29.534 to take top spot while teammate Stenshorne goes third. Camara briefly takes P1 away until the Irishman goes quicker still and onto a 1:29.362

Early times filtering through

13:43

Miyata leads the way ahead of teammate Herta on a 1:29.755. AIX Racing are third and fourth with Shields and Fittipaldi

Hitech head out

13:17

Hitech decide to break cover for the afternoon and are on track with both drivers

🟢GREEN LIGHT🟢

13:00

And we are back for some more after a shorter break. No immediate takers though

Welcome back!

12:45

We will be getting back down to business in 15 minutes for our final on-track session before Round 1 of the 2026 Formula 2 season

AM running in the books 🏁

12:00

That is the end of the first session today. We will be back for more this afternoon after a short break.

Your top 10:

1 - Camara - 1:23.252 2 - Leon - 1:23.526 3 - Tsolov - 1:23.654 4 - Van Hoepen - 1:23.671 5 - Mini - 1:23.721 6 - Herta - 1:23.751 7 - Boya - 1:23.826 8 - Miyata - 1:23.857 9 - Beganovic - 1:24.058 10 - Inthraphuvasak - 1:24.068

Closing in on the break

11:42

The lunch break approaches as teams look to get their final bit of running in this morning. Remember, it's a one-hour break today rather than two! Afternoon action begins at 13:00 local time

It appears Qualifying simulations are over

11:32

For now, everyone looks like they've finished their one-lap runs

Leon closes the gap

11:21

Leon improves his personal best to cut the gap down to Camara to 0.274s

NEW FASTEST LAP🟪🟪🟩

11:15

Camara smashes the best time of the week to go fastest of all. 1:23.252 is the new benchmark

Herta improves to fourth

11:12

The Hitech driver is 0.097s off P1 after his latest lap

Improvements coming in

11:08

Laurens van Hoepen goes up to P2 for TRIDENT, just 0.017s off Tsolov's earlier effort. Gabriele Mini is P3 for MP Motorsport, ahead of Leon in fourth and Mari Boya who is now fifth for PREMA Racing

🟢Green green green🟢

10:47

Leon's Campos is back in the pitlane and we get going once more

🔴RED FLAG🔴

10:43

Another Red Flag, this time it's Leon that's stopped on circuit

🟢Back in business🟢

10:40

Car recovered and we are green again in Barcelona

🔴RED FLAG🔴

10:12

Villagomez is off at the final corner this time

🟢Back to green🟢

10:03

Car recovered and we're back in action

🔴RED FLAG🔴

09:57

Varrone is in the gravel at the final corner

Hour one almost over

09:53

Here's a rundown of the top 10 currently:

1 - Tsolov - 1:23.654 2 - Leon - 1:23.769 3 - Duerksen - 1:24.212 4 - Maini - 1:25.276 5 - Inthraphuvasak - 1:25.421 6 - Camara - 1:25.541 7 - Mini - 1:25.703 8 - Boya - 1:25.757 9 - Herta - 1:25.881 10 - Beganovic - 1:25.940

Tsolov tops the times

09:44

Campos remain the team to beat at the moment but now it's Tsolov who leads the field. He sets a 1:23.654, 0.115s ahead of Leon in P2

Leon leads the way

09:32

The Campos driver lowers the time to beat to a 1:23.769, not too far away from the fastest time of the test so far from Camara yesterday - 1:23.630

Campos 1-2

09:14

Until Campos Racing go ahead with Noel Leon leading a 1-2 for the Spanish outfit ahead of Nikola Tsolov. The best effort is now a 1:25.173

Varrone P1

09:13

Van Amersfoort Racing lead early on with Nico Varrone ahead of teammate Rafael Villagomez on a 1:28.136

🟢GREEN LIGHT🟢

09:00

And we are live for the final morning session!

AIX Racing and Invicta Racing head straight out with Emerson Fittipaldi and Joshua Duerksen respectively

Engines fired

08:57

Teams are making their final preparations and we are set to go green in a few minutes time

Day 2 Recap

08:40

In case you weren't following along yesterday, it was a sweep of the sessions for Invicta Racing, as Rafael Camara set the fastest time of the test so far in the morning session before teammate Joshua Duerksen led the way in the afternoon.

It's the final day!

08:30

We are back for the third and final day of pre-season testing from Barcelona. It's the last chance for teams and drivers to get up to speed ahead of Melbourne, and we aren't far away from getting the green light to begin Day 3 running.