Frederik Vesti reflects on his first outing for Mercedes

Frederik Vesti had his first real taste of the 2026 machinery at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, climbing into Kimi Antonelli’s W17 for the opening practice session. It is a massive task for any driver to jump into a car of this complexity, but Vesti treated the outing as a vital link between the track and his ongoing duties in the simulator.

He finished the session in P15, a result that tells us very little about the true pace of the machine. The Dane was clear that the value lay elsewhere, noting that he found "some good surprises" once he was out on circuit. It is that kind of granular feedback that makes all the difference in modern development.