George Russell gave a glowing review of Red Bull’s new power unit, praising both the sister team and Racing Bulls after the first day of pre-season testing in Barcelona. Max Verstappen’s new challenger ran without major issues in Isack Hadjar’s hands before the four-time world champion got his own taste of the 2026 machinery on Tuesday.

Mercedes have been tipped as the pre-season favourites for the 2026 season after a summer of intense speculation surrounding their new power units. The Silver Arrows enjoyed a strong first day in Barcelona, but Russell made it clear that he does not expect this year to be a repeat of 2014’s lack of parity.

“We are pleased with our day, but I’ve also been impressed by several other teams, too,” he said. “The Red Bull power unit has completed a lot of laps, which, given that it’s their first engine they’ve built, means they’ve clearly done a good job.

“Haas also managed a similar amount of running to ourselves, so the Ferrari power unit has also put together plenty of mileage. It’s not quite how it was in 2014! The sport has evolved so much since then, and the level, in every single aspect, is so high now.”

Kimi Antonelli was also happy with the first day of his pre-season campaign. The 19-year-old spoke of the challenges involved in driving the new cars and managing the new power units, and praised Mercedes’ talented technical team for their development work.

“There is lots for us to learn with these new machines, so it’s important that we complete as much mileage as we can and build our knowledge,” Antonelli said. “The team at Brackley and Brixworth have done a great job to get us to this position, developing and building a car that has been able to complete over 150 laps on its first proper day of running.

“It is early days, though. There will be things we discover in the coming days that we can improve, but that is the point of testing. For now, though, the package overall feels good, and we will look to build on this start over the following two days of running we’re allowed here in Barcelona.”

Russell’s positive sentiment towards the RB22 was echoed by Verstappen’s new team-mate, Hadjar, who drove his stint without issue on Monday at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

“It was pretty productive,” he explained. “Surprisingly, we managed to do a lot more laps than we expected. Everything went pretty smooth. We had only minor issues, so it’s quite impressive, considering it’s our first day with our own engine. It was definitely smooth.”