McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team head to Barcelona this week following the opening European round of the 2026 FIA Formula One World Championship in Monaco where the team celebrated their 1000th Grand Prix.

Lando and Oscar piloted the MCL40's celebratory livery in Monte Carlo but experienced mixed fortunes as Lando's car suffered issues with the power unit that became terminal and forced the Number 1 car to retire on Lap 45. The positive takeaway, however, was that there were no big implications in terms of power unit allocation, due to the Monaco Grand Prix being the last race scheduled for this unit's cycle. On the other side of the garage, Oscar Piastri produced a clean and composed performance, finishing P4 after moving up three places to secure a good haul of points for the team.

In the build-up to the 2026 Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, McLaren Mastercard have collectively reviewed last weekend with a focus on development to build competitiveness and reliability to keep pushing forward with the aim of closing the gap to the frontrunners.

This has also been aided through the increased understanding of the new generation of cars and tyres with the data collected from running the MCL40 at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for Formula 1's Barcelona Pre-Season Shakedown in January. Despite the different conditions experienced at the start of the year, due to track temperatures plus the addition of two further Straight Mode zones now in place as well as the harvest limit being reduced, this has provided a useful reference for the team.

The 1000th Grand Prix livery will also run throughout the sessions at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya with nods to McLaren's rich history including hidden gems recognising important milestones, from the team's first race, Grands Prix victories and Championship wins, to the Triple Crown and the outstanding 1.80s world record pit stop.

Friday's track action will see McLaren Driver Development and F1 Reserve, Leonardo Fornaroli make his Formula 1 World Championship event debut at the 2026 Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, driving in Free Practice 1 in place of Lando Norris. Leonardo will run with Number 67 on the MCL40 throughout the opening session.

Leonardo joined the team in December 2025 following success with back-to-back 2025 FIA Formula 2 and 2024 FIA Formula 3 Championships. Since joining the Woking based team's setup, the 21-year-old has successfully taken part in three Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) tests to date after completing laps at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Silverstone and Circuit of The Americas in the team's 2023 challenger. As part of his role, Leonardo has supported the team both trackside and in the simulator throughout the season.

Leonardo Fornaroli: "I'm looking forward to getting to drive the MCL40 this weekend in Spain for Free Practice 1. It's a great opportunity to support the team with their preparations and work through the planned Friday programme.

"It's also a very special milestone for me personally, as it will be my first official Formula 1 session. It's something I've worked towards for a long time, and I'm incredibly grateful for the opportunity to take this next step with McLaren Racing.

"The experience I've gained so far this year through the multiple Testing of Previous Cars events I've successfully completed has been so valuable for my development and overall learning of driving a Formula 1 car. Thank you to Zak, Andrea and Alessandro for their continued support and I can't wait to get in the car on Friday."

McLaren Racing Heritage - Barcelona

5 wins, 6 Poles, 17 podiums, 6 Fastest Laps

Most recent win: 2025, Oscar Piastri in the MCL39
Special race: 1998, Mika Häkkinen's win in the MP4/13
Standout race: 2005, Kimi Räikkönen's win in the MP4/20

2005 feels like the season that got away. The MP4/20 was the quickest car on show, and won more than half the races... but mechanical fragility took a toll, with DNFs and frequent 10-place grid drops giving the team too large a mountain to climb... but Round Five, the Spanish Grand Prix, was one of those weekends with everything on song with Kimi, in an updated car, giving the team the first of 10 victories across the 19-race season.

Paul Barnes, F1 Operations & Commercial Liaison Senior Director: "Barcelona 2005 was only my fourth race with the team. At the time I was at the on-car electrician and data working across Kimi Räikkönen and Juan Pablo Montoya's cars."

It really wasn't what the crowd had come to see. Fernando Alonso led the Drivers' Championship by 16 points from Jarno Trulli, and the Circuit de Catalunya was awash in a sea of Renault turquoise. This was peak Alonso-mania, with the roads to Montmeló gridlocked well before dawn. Enter Kimi to spoil the party.

"We had a good weekend with Kimi putting the car on Pole and over the first 20 odd laps," recalls Paul. "He was posting fastest lap after fastest lap and built a huge lead. I remember thinking: this could be a race win." He took Pole on Sunday morning, with Mark Webber between him and Fernando, then made a good start to maintain that lead.

The race was neutralised with two laps of Safety Car, then Kimi lit the jets, resetting the bar for fastest lap on laps three, four, five, six, seven, eight, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 17, 20. It was a mesmeric stint, certainly a contender for greatest of all time, and built him a lead of 26 seconds over a highly-motivated Alonso, enough to make his first stop and emerge with the lead intact.

After this it was station-keeping: Alonso attempted a response but ultimately had to back off to look after his tyres. That year, pit stops were for refuelling purposes only, so tyres would need to last the entire race. Having led every lap of the race, Kimi's final margin of victory was 27 seconds. "He eventually did win and the feeling was amazing to be celebrating with my teammates, and personally my first win in F1."

"Winning in Formula 1 is not easy," says Paul, "and some people who work in the sport for many years may never get to experience it so it should never be taken for granted, but it's the most incredible feeling seeing everyone's hard work over a race weekend finish with a race win. It's a huge privilege to be in Formula 1, especially with this team and the history that has been created over many years, so to experience that and add to the legacy of the team so early in my career was amazing."

The result moved Kimi from P11 to P3 in the Championship, and the hunt was on.

Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

Race laps: 66
Circuit length: 4.657 km/2.894 miles
Total race distance: 307.236 km/190.908 miles
Number of corners: 14 (8 right, 6 left)
Pit loss: +24s
Safety Car L1 Pit loss: +12s
Energy Management required: High
Allocated tyre compounds: Hard: C2, Medium: C3 & Soft: C4